Strike a Pose
by David Falkayn
Summary: The adventures of Carrie Shepard before, during, and in between the time covered by the ME games. Trying for self contained stories, chapter 6 is now up
1. Chapter 1

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter One

_**A/N: **__While many authors have done a great job in portraying their FemSheps, I wanted to try something a little different. Thankfully, the game is rather sketchy on Shepard's early origins—you get a barebones, but there's plenty of room to fill in different interpretations. One of the areas I wanted to explore here is her pre-Spectre career. I hope you enjoy my somewhat unorthodox...possibly even heretical...take on Shepard._

_**The Citadel: 2180**_

"Executor?" C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian marched into his superior's standing at attention in front of his desk.

"Officer Vakarian." Executor Venari Pallin, looking up from his desk, at last recognized the officer standing before him. "Do you know why I called you in?"

"I would assume it has something to do with the escape of Doctor Saleon." Garrus replied in a tone that bordered on insubordinate.

His mandible's flaring slightly at the junior officer's tone, Pallin replied, 'Partly, yes. You overstepped your bounds, Vakarian..."

"He was escaping with hostages..." Garrus protested only to be silenced by a raised hand and the Executor's firm voice.

"Not the point, Officer. Your order to fire endangered far more lives than just those hostages. What would have happened had stray rounds struck Zakera or Tayseri Ward? Did you pause to think about that?" The Turian C-Sec chief paused for a moment to allow his words an opportunity to sink into his stubborn subordinate's head. "Actions have consequences, Officer Vakarian—something your father understood very well. Unfortunately, that lesson did not seem to take with his son. But, that's not the only reason I called you in here." The executor allowed a brief smile to cross his face before continuing, "I have your next assignment. An extranet entertainment magazine..._Galaxina_...has requested permission to have what they call a 'photo shoot' on the Citadel...

"Photo shoot?" Garrus interrupted.

"Yes. They want to take stills and moving pictures at various places on the Wards and in the Presidium such as the Relay Statue and the Krogan Memorial." Pallin replied, savoring his next words, "You're providing security."

"What?!" An outraged Garrus all but shouted, "You can't be serious, Executor!"

"Oh...but I am, Officer Vakarian." Pallin responded, inwardly taking glee at his often-troublesome subordinate's plight, "You're to report to the Citadel Tower antechamber in two standard hours and will remain with the 'shoot' until it ends. Dismissed!"

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"C'mon, LT!" Corporal Fredericks called out as his platoon leader made his way out of the docking tube that connected the SSV _Forrestal _with the Citadel.

"I'm coming." 2nd Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko replied, "Hold your water."

"Hurry up, Lieutenant!" Sergeant Philips chimed in, "We're gonna miss 'em!"

"What's the big deal?" Kaiden said with a smile as he shook his head, "It's just some dumb extranet magazine photo shoot."

"Girls..."

"Swimsuits..."

"Bikinis!"

"All right! All right!" The dark-haired biotic threw his hands up in resignation, "You made your point. Let's go."

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"Nothing like getting paid after a job well done." Urdnot Wrex grunted in satisfaction as he saw that the amount agreed upon for his last job had been deposited to his account. "I like it when the client's smart enough to pay promptly and in full."

"So...what now, Wrex?" The grizzled human mercenary who had worked with the krogan bounty hunter on his most recent job inquired as he also nodded his head in satisfaction at being paid.

"Doesn't matter." The krogan gruffly replied, "For now, I think I'll take a look at the Krogan Memorial and then dinner at Fishdog's and after that...well, one fight's just as good as another. What about you, Massani?"

"Heading out. My ship's loading up now." Zaeed Massani replied as he packed the last of his gear. "Off to Omega and then...maybe cash in on a few bounties."

"Good hunting." Wrex replied, placing a rough hand on the human mercenary's shoulder. "You know...for a human...you fight ok."

"You too, big guy." Zaeed responded, "Watch yourself out there."

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"That must be where they're shooting!" Fredericks called out, pointing to the relay statue where a photographer, his crew, and several scantily clad models were gathered. "C'mon...let's get there before the crowd gets too big!"

Garrus Vakarian at once spotted the Alliance marines approaching the photo shoot. Shaking his head in wry amusement, the C-Sec officer decided that, as long as they didn't get too close or too obnoxious, he wouldn't give them any hassles. Besides, even though he knew that Pallin had put him on this duty as punishment, he was actually having fun watching the skimpily-clad models cavorting about.

"Would you look at that!" A marine private exclaimed as his eyes fell on an asari model wearing a dark green monokini.

"I got my eyes on the redhead." Corporal Fredericks said as he pointed to a redheaded human wearing a print bikini. "Looks like the LT's got a thing for blondes." The corporal laughed pointing to Kaiden who at that moment seemed entranced by the blonde woman currently being photographed.

Carrie Shepard flashed her most electric smile as she posed for the camera. Somehow, she had managed to work herself into the hollow inner circle of the statue where she'd leaned against one side while stretching her legs up and out, her pose alluring and enticing. Add to that the designer gold lame bikini she was modeling, along with the gold hoop earrings and gold high heels, she figured that if this didn't get her on the magazine's cover, nothing would.

"And that's it!" The photographer called out, pleased at his shot. "Great shot, Carrie. Let's get another shot with all of you and then we'll move over to the Krogan Memorial and do a few shots there."

"Sounds like a winner, Alec." Carrie called back as she jumped down off the statue, bringing up a slight biotic barrier as she did to ease her fall. Walking back to where her photographer and the rest of the models were gathered, Shepard spotted the Alliance marines gathered near the C-Sec officer watching over them. Spotting an attractive dark haired man wearing 2nd Lieutenant's bars, Carrie flashed a blinding smile and waved, "Enjoying the show, Lieutenant?" Then waving to the other marines, Carrie raised her voice, "Hey, boys! See you over at the Memorial!"

As she walked away, Kaiden scratched the back of his head as he began to walk towards the krogan monument. "There's something familiar about her...but I can't quite place it."

Garrus had also spotted the slight blue trace of Carrie's barrier. "That's interesting..." The turian agent muttered to himself as he kept pace with the models. "Now, how many human fashion models are also trained biotics?"

"Know any of those guys?" Linda, the redhead, asked Carrie as the models and their C-Sec minder walked together to the memorial.

"No." Carrie shook her head as she tried once again to push the memories of Akuze out of her mind. "I never served with any of them." She said quietly as her mind tried in vain to muffle the dying screams and pleas of her fellow marines.

"I'm...sorry...Carrie." Linda said in a soft voice as she saw the troubled look on the blonde model's face, "I forgot about...I didn't mean to..."

"It's ok, Linda." Carrie replied as she gained control over her emotions. "I'm a lot better than I was. At least I'm not tearing up bars and beating up on doctors and nurses now."

"That dark-haired guy is kind of cute." Asryna, the asari model remarked in an effort to get her friend's mind off her troubles, "Wonder if he's available?"

" I saw him first." Carrie chuckled, her laughter bringing smiles to her friends' faces.

"All right...all right!" The asari maiden chuckled, "But I've got dibs on our turian watcher."

"Deal." Carrie grinned as she called over to their C-Sec minder, "Hear that, Officer Garrus? You got a date with Asryna for tonight. Hope you're ready to embrace eternity!"

"Carrie Lynn Shepard!" The asari model pouted, "You know I don't embrace eternity on the first date. You gotta buy me dinner first!"

"C'mon...you know you wanna." Carrie grinned as she pushed the asari in Garrus's direction. "Go talk to him...we got a few minutes while Alec sets up. Go!"

"Oh...all right!" Asryna sighed as she sauntered towards Garrus, swaying her hips ever so slightly as she walked.

"If you don't fall for that, Mr. C-Sec..." Carrie muttered under her breath, "Then you're either blind or an eunuch." Then, seeing her photographer quailing before a large krogan warrior in front of the memorial statue, Shepard sighed as she rushed over.

"Hey, Alec. Problems?" Carrie asked. Then turning towards the imposing krogan, Shepard flashed her sweetest smile, "Mr. Krogan, Sir...this man's not giving you a hard time, is he?"

"Heh." Wrex rumbled, "Hardly. I'm just not going to let you or him or anyone else belittle the sacrifices of my people. We do a good enough job of that on our own. We don't need your help."

Her smile disappearing, Shepard answered back, all traces of levity gone from her voice, "I see—and—for whatever it's worth to you, I think you're right." Then, almost as quickly as it had vanished, her smile returned, "I think I have an idea." Turning to her photographer, Carrie pleaded, "Alec...you want a picture or two with a krogan, right?" Taking her photographer's weak head nod as a yes, Shepard pressed on, "Does it matter which krogan? I mean...we've got a genuine krogan battlemaster here. Big...strong...tough." Turning to Wrex, she grinned, "Bet you could take down a room full of vorcha without breaking a sweat."

"Two roomfuls." Wrex laughed, deciding that he liked this human female. "Plus the surrounding courtyard."

"At least." Carrie smiled. "So, Alec...Mr. Krogan..."

"Wrex." The krogan battlemaster interrupted. "Urdnot Wrex."

"Ok, Wrex." Carrie grinned, "Here's my crazy plan—I think you'll love it. We use Wrex in our shoot instead of the memorial. You get your krogan, Alec. And Wrex..." The blonde flashed her most electric smile, "You get to have your picture taken with a bunch of gorgeous females. If that doesn't get you named Merc of the Month by Badass Weekly, nothing will! Add to that, all the other krogan mercs'll be flat out jealous of you and..." She whispered in the krogan battlemaster's ear, "I'll get Alec to foot the bill for your dinner tonight. I hear Fishdog's is having a special on roasted varren."

Laughing, Wrex exclaimed, "I like you, human. All right. What do you want me to do?"

Chuckling, Carrie answered back, "Alec? What do you think of this..." As she sketched out her idea both the photographer and the krogan shook their heads, but the blonde model persisted, "C'mon, guys! It's a great idea and you know it. Wrex...it'll show everyone just how big, strong, and...virile...a krogan you are. And Alec...that's the exact same shot you were planning for the statue...so why not do it with a real live krogan?"

"All right, Carrie!" Alec threw up his hands in surrender, "We'll do it if Mr. Wrex is willing."

Chuckling, Wrex replied, "This had better land me on the cover of Badass Weekly."

"I guarantee it will." Carrie smiled as she called out to the asari model currently talking with Garrus, "C'mon, Asryna! Time to strike a pose!" Hopping into Wrex's arms, Carrie made herself comfortable, "Okay, Uncle Urdnot...let's bring down the boom!"

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And...that's a wrap!" Alec sighed in relief as he snapped the last of the pictures.

"All right!" Carrie nearly shouted out as she planted a kiss on the big krogan's cheek. "Thanks, Uncle Urdnot. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Heh...heh..." Wrex chuckled, "Don't forget, you owe me dinner at Fishdog's."

"You got it." Carrie smiled, "I'll meet you at 1730. Then, if you want, you can go clubbing with us at that new nightclub..."

"Flux." Asryna called out as she gave her contact number out to her turian date. "You wanna meet us there, Garrus?"

"I'll be there." Garrus smiled back.

Smiling and waving at the Alliance marines as she walked by them, Carrie paused for a moment in front of the attractive dark-haired man. Flashing a sly grin, she suddenly reached out to him. Pulling him to her, she kissed him hard on the lips for several moments as his mates hooted and hollered their approval. Then, whispering in his ear, she commanded, "Flux...tonight...be there."

"Yes, Ma'am." Kaiden stammered as she released him.

"What was that all about, LT?" Corporal Fredericks asked between bouts or laughter.

"I think I've been invited out on a date." Alenko responded with a shake of his head and a sigh.

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Strutting into the nightclub as if she owned it, Carrie at once spotted her friends. Asryna was already practically in Garrus's lap as the dark-haired Alliance marine, now in civilian dress, sat with the group...but not really a part of it. _Well...we've got to do something about that!_ Carrie vowed as she approached, "Hey, guys! Miss me?"

"So...how was the varren?" Linda smirked.

"Pretty damned good." Carrie honestly replied, "No way I was gonna touch the ryncol though."

"I don't blame you." The marine lieutenant responded with a shy grin, "That stuff'll do worse than peel paint."

"Tell me about it Lieutenant..." Carrie answered back with a smile.

"Alenko." The marine responded, "Second Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko."

"Carrie Shepard." The blonde model answered back.

"You guys have something in common." Linda, the redheaded model, blurted out. "Carrie was an Alliance marine too."

Seeing the questioning look on Kaiden's face, Carrie sighed, "Still am." She admitted, "I'm in reserve status at the present time. Staff Lieutenant Carrie Shepard—so..." She teased, "I outrank you, Lieutenant Alenko."

As she mentioned her full name and rank, it clicked in Kaiden's mind, _Akuze! That's where I remember that name from!_ As he took a breath to speak, Kaiden felt an elbow dig into his ribs. Glancing sideways, he saw the asari model, Asryna, gently shake her head. Exhaling, Kaiden instead replied, "Pleasure to meet you...Carrie."

"Pleasure's all mine." Carrie responded as Asryna flashed a brief smile of gratitude to Kaiden. "Wanna dance?"

"Carrie!" Linda laughed, "You know you can't dance worth squat!"

"I can too!" Carrie pouted, "Especially when I have the right partner! C'mon Kaiden...know how to tango?"

"Uh..." The hapless Kaiden Alenko stammered as Shepard practically dragged him out on the dance floor.

"C'mon, Garrus." Asryna grinned as she took the turian by the hand, "Let's show those humans how it's really done."

"Guess no one wants to dance with me." Linda pouted as she sipped her drink.

"I will." A male voice answered.

Looking up, Linda saw an attractive dark-skinned man. "All right. Let's go. What's your name?"

"Jacob." The man responded, "Jacob Tyler."

"Ok, Jacob Tyler...let's go cut a rug!"

Watching as Shepard and Kaiden danced together, Asryna remarked to her date, "You know, she really is awful when she dances alone, but put her with the right guy...or gal...and... Damn!" She exclaimed as Kaiden dipped her at just the right moment. "Think you can do that, Garrus?"

"Just watch." Garrus replied as he led his blue partner through their dance, ending it with a dip as well.

"Not bad." Carrie clapped as she motioned for her fellow models to join her. "Excuse us, guys—we gotta go powder our noses—why don't you guys wait for us outside the powder room, then we'll go out...maybe watch the skycar races...or something."

Watching as the girls disappeared into the ladies room, Jacob turned to his fellow males, "Guys...none of our friends are gonna believe us when we tell 'em about tonight."

"Tell me about it." Kaiden agreed, nodding his head. "I'm not sure I believe it."

"I know..." Garrus began, only to be cut off by a fusillade of gunfire coming from inside the nightclub, followed soon afterwards by shouts and sobs.

"Damn." The C-Sec officer swore in a low voice as he and the men with him crouched low.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Kaiden whispered, "You bring any hardware with you?"

"No. But I'm biotic." The dark-skinned man responded as a blue glow surrounded his arm.

"Great." Kaiden replied. "You go check the men's room. See if there's anyone in there. If there is...keep 'em safe. I'll keep watch here. Garrus...you're about to go where most men fear to tread. You're going into the ladies' room."

As Jacob and Garrus disappeared into the men's and women's restrooms, Kaiden crouched behind a small divider as the footsteps grew closer.

"Check the men's room." A voice commanded, "The women's room's mine."

"Yeah...yeah...have all the fun." The other voice complained as Kaiden waited for his opportunity. When one of the men entered the men's room, Alenko struck, hitting the intruder with a neural shock. Moving quickly, Alenko dragged the intruder into the women's room, binding his hands behind his back. Disarming the intruder, Kaiden looked up to find that Garrus, Carrie, and Asryna had already quieted the other women in the restroom.

"Everything ok, here?" The Alliance marine asked.

"Yeah, we got it under control, Lieutenant." Shepard replied, immediately taking command of the situation. "Take his rifle, Garrus. Alenko...take the pistol."

"What about you?" Kaiden asked.

"I've got my biotics." Shepard responded. Turning to Asryna, Carrie asked, "You weren't blowing smoke up my ass to get me in bed when you told me you were an asari commando before becoming a model, were you?"

"No." Asryna replied, "I was a commando in Matriarch Aleeta's retinue for thirty years. Decided I needed a change of pace." She smiled, "Kinda like someone else I know."

"Where's the guy who was with Linda?" Carrie inquired.

"Men's room." Kaiden automatically responded. "Doing the same thing we're doing here. Hope he took out the guy who went in there."

"Kaiden...Garrus...check on him." Shepard ordered, "We'll meet you outside the restrooms.

"Right." Kaiden acknowledged as Garrus nodded his head.

As the two men left, Carrie turned back to Linda and the other women in the restroom. "Everything's going to be ok. We're going to get you outta here alive and unhurt. Ok?" Nodding her head in satisfaction as Linda and the other women all nodded their heads, Carrie instructed, "Me and Asryna are gonna step out for just a moment. We'll be right back and then we'll see about getting you outta here. Stay where you are and remain absolutely silent."

As the two women carefully exited the ladies room, the spotted their dates with Jacob. "Take care of the other guy?" Carrie asked.

"Jacob got him." Kaiden responded, "He's a biotic too."

Nodding her head as she saw Jacob wielding a shotgun with a pistol and assault rifle close by, Carrie instructed, "Hand Asryna the rifle, I'll take the pistol, and you keep the shotgun—you look like you know how to use it."

"Wait a minute..." Garrus interrupted, "Since when did a...swimsuit model...learn military tactics?"

"Yeah." Jacob agreed. "The C-Sec officer or Lieutenant or even myself should be the one giving orders here."

Taking the blonde model's slight head nod as permission, Asryna replied in a manner that she hadn't used in years, "Carrie's an Alliance commando. An N7—I think is what you call them. She knows what she's doing—probably better than any of you men."

Nodding his head in agreement, Kaiden spoke, "I've heard of Staff Lieutenant Shepard. She was the sole survivor of a thresher maw attack on Akuze that wiped out her entire platoon."

"You're that Shepard?" Jacob whispered as Carrie nodded her head once.

"Yeah. And Asryna's an asari commando who probably has more experience under her belt than all of us put together. So...if we're done trying to figure out who has the longest hoo-hah, maybe we can do something useful—like taking out these bad guys without anyone getting killed."

"Right." Jacob acknowledged as he handed the pistol to Carrie and the rifle to the asari.  
What are your orders, Shepard?"

"Jacob. Your job is to get the people here out and to safety when you get the chance." Raising her hand as the corsair took a deep breath to object, Shepard continued, "That's not going to be as easy as you think. You're gonna have to get them and any other civilians you run into past anyone else out there and out the door without firing a shot or getting anyone killed. You up for the job?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Jacob replied, unable to resist the charismatic model's pitch.

"Garrus. You any good from range?"

"I can manage." The turian smiled.

"Good." Carrie grinned, "Find yourself a nest. Make sure that rifle has a noise suppressor. Then, when you get a shot, take it. One shot kills... and only take your shot if you're sure you're not going to alert the others. We don't want a panic."

"Understood, Shepard." Garrus nodded his head as he slipped off to find a sniper's perch.

"Kaiden...Asryna...you're with me. We're gonna try to pick these guys off one at a time. Stick to quieter biotics for as long as possible—stasis...neural shock...if you can reave 'em and take 'em out quick and clean—go for it. If we have to start tossing singularities and shockwaves and throws around, then we're screwed—got it?" Seeing both heads nod, Carrie nodded her head as well, "All right...let's do this. Jacob? Wait for us to clear a path and then follow. Remember—get everyone out."

"Got it, Shepard." Jacob replied as the other three biotics slipped out and into the nightclub.

"Where are Jensen and Walters?" One of the intruders demanded.

"They went to check on the restrooms." Another voice responded.

"That was five minutes ago." The first voice angrily responded. "Find out what's holding them up."

"Right boss." The voice belonging to the one named Jensen responded. "Let's go Walters. Cardman's probably got himself some in the woman's room."

"Yeah." Walters answered back as the two bandits approached the biotics' hiding place. Smiling, Shepard sent a small blue trace towards Walters. Seconds later, Walters had turned his weapon on his partner and fired.

"What?" The leader hollered as he aimed his pistol at Walters who once again fired, missing the leader. The leader then fired, only to be felled himself by a shot fired from the club rafters.

"Got him." Garrus smiled in satisfaction.

"I've got this one." Asryna remarked as she reaved yet another bandit, putting him down before he could utter a sound.

Seeing the approach cleared, Carrie signaled for Jacob to proceed. Moving quietly and swiftly, the dark-skinned biotic smoothly guided the civilians towards safety, making sure they stayed low and in the shadows. Pausing, he signaled at the doors and held up four fingers.

"We've got four bad guys and no civilians in the way." Carrie informed her ad hoc squad. "We still don't want to cause any collateral damage to the club so let's take 'em out quiet-like—right."

"Sure thing, Carrie." Asryna smiled.

"Right, Lieutenant." Kaiden acknowledged, using Carrie's rank.

After a couple of stasis bubbles and reaves were applied, four bandits found temporary resting places on the nightclub's floor. "Ok, Jacob! Carrie signaled, "The coast is clear. We're gonna check outside and then you can get these people out.

"Gotcha, Shepard!" Jacob replied as Carrie and her squad exited the nightclub only to find themselves surrounded by several armored bandits.

"You're the ones who messed up our heist." The leader cursed. "Well...at least we'll get to waste you fu..."

The leader never got to finish his words as a rumble followed by the leader exploding from a spread of shotgun pellets that shredded the robber's body. Another of the bandits found himself tossed in the air by a punch thrown at him by an eight hundred pound krogan. "Uncle Urdnot's here and he's laying down the boom!"

The third bandit was launched across the room, this time courtesy of a throw by Kaiden. Asryna and Carrie, working together, took out the remaining bandits with a combined singularity-warp attack.

"Well...I guess that does it." Carrie smiled as Jacob led the nightclub patrons out of the bar and into safety, followed soon afterwards by Garrus, still cradling his sniper rifle. "So guys...what do we next?"

"I'm not sure..." Kaiden replied, "How do you top an evening like this?"

"I don't know." The blonde model shrugged her shoulders as she laughed, "Maybe save the galaxy?"

"You can pencil me in on that, Staff Lieutenant." Kaiden grinned, "I'm on the _Honolulu_, just give me a call when you're ready."

"Count me in too, Shepard." Jacob waved as he left, arm-in-arm with Linda.

"If there's a good fight and lots of roast varren, then I'll be there." Wrex rumbled as he stomped away, laughing heartily the whole time.

Laughing along with everyone else, Garrus waved, "Let me know when you do and I'll join you. Right now though, I've got a stack of paperwork I'm going to have to fill out."

"I might have to get in on that action too, Carrie." Asryna smiled, "Just so long as we can strike a pose together every once in a while."

"You betcha, Asry!" Carrie smirked mischievously, "Speaking of which...We better check in with Alec. I think we've got a shoot tomorrow."

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"Grow up, Angelo." Service Chief Ashley Williams growled as she saw the printed out poster of a blonde woman and an asari playing beach volleyball hanging on the squadbay wall. "This isn't a college dorm!"

"Well I'll be a goddamn..." Zaeed Massani chuckled as he opened up his copy of Badass Weekly on his omnitool. Right on the cover was a photo of Urdnot Wrex with a beautiful blonde woman wearing a gold lame bikini in his arms. "Way to go big guy!"

"Now that's what you call recruitment material!" Flight Lieutenant Jeffrey Moreau smirked as he laid eyes on the cover of this month's _Galaxina_ magazine. "If only all staff lieutenants could fill in a uniform like that..."

"Hot..." Samantha Traynor smirked as the name Carrie Shepard came up in the little game her and her suitemates at Oxford were playing, "Definitely H.O.T...HOT."

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Waking up to the beeping sound from her monitor, Carrie Shepard called out, "Yes..."

"Captain Anderson wishes to speak with you." The VI responded.

"Put him through." Carrie responded as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Yes, Sir?" The blonde model responded, falling quickly back into military protocol.

"I read your after-action report concerning the incident at Flux." Anderson stated as a smile of approval crossed his lips, "Damn good work, Shepard. You took down those bandits and got everyone out of that nightclub without a single casualty and only minor property damage. I'm impressed and so are a bunch of other people."

"I had help, Sir." Carrie modestly replied.

"I know, Shepard." Anderson again smiled approvingly, "You pulled together three people you didn't even know and one person you only knew as a model and had them working together as smoothly as most teams that have had weeks and months working together. That tells me a lot about your leadership skills and ability. I want those skills and ability working for me."

"But, Sir...my status..."

"Your reinstatement to active N7 service is sitting on my desk right now, Staff Lieutenant." Anderson announced. " I can't say much over an unsecured line, Shepard, but I can tell you this. I want you for something special...something I think that you are uniquely qualified for. So...should I put in those reinstatement orders or shelve them? It's your call."

"This is important, Sir?"

"Very." Anderson declared, "I need the best for this."

"Then, Sir, count me in—on one condition."

"Oh?" Anderson responded, raising an eyebrow.

"If you're looking for the best, then there's a biotic you should know about. He's a second lieutenant by the name of Kaiden Alenko. He should be on your team."

"I read about Lieutenant Alenko from your report." Anderson smiled, "I'm pleased to inform you that he has already agreed to join me."

"Then, Captain." Carrie grinned, "Submit those papers. You can count me in."

_As I said, this is a somewhat heretical take on FemShep. You'll note, she never used a gun during the entire story. While Carrie will use a gun if she has to, she does not like to use them. She's much more comfortable using her biotics and even then, prefers the surgical strike to the blunt hammer. Also, Carrie isn't afraid of being a "girly-girl"—she rather likes it. And yes, she is very much a paragon. I hope you liked Carrie in this little romp and if you want to see more of her, just let me know and I'll try to oblige you._


	2. Chapter 2: What About Shepard?

Strike a Pose

Chapter Two: What About Shepard?

_A/N: I want to thank avaiaal for your kind review. I wasn't sure I was going to continue this. The first part was originally intended as a standalone story. To be brutally honest, I'm finding the ME section here rather frustrating. This is a hard room to write for—kind of like Lenny Bruce performing a stand-up routine at Liberty College. Ultimately, I decided that all I can do is write the best stories I can and the rest is up to you, the readers. The thing is, I really do have what I think are some pretty fun stories to tell with Carrie and I'm going to tell them. The last time, with "King's Horses," I got too impatient and pulled the trigger too quickly. This time, I'm writing for me. I hope you come along for the ride. Carrie's not your "standard" femShep—she likes primping and partying and laughing and yes, being a 'girly-girl' (She lied to Miranda—that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). She doesn't like using guns—she prefers her powers, and if she can choose between saving a life and taking one, she'll pick saving that life all the time. She wears her heart on her sleeve and that heart will be broken more than once, but each time, she bounces back better and stronger than ever. That's who she is and that's how she rolls. _

_These stories are self-contained and in no particular chronological order. This one takes place just prior to the beginning of Mass Effect One._

"Well...what about Shepard?"

"What about Shepard?" Udina exclaimed, his eyes widening as he flung down a print copy of _Today's Woman_ on the conference table. "Is this who we really want representing humanity?"

"Kahlee thinks she looks pretty good in that dress." Captain Anderson chuckled as his eyes fell to the picture of his future executive officer on the cover of the magazine wearing a green Felice Noir original dress. "Made me promise to buy her one like it for Christmas."

"I'd better keep that magazine away from my wife." Admiral Hackett grinned, "Or I'll be buying one for her too."

"You see!" Ambassador Udina cried out triumphantly, "Your reactions prove my point. No one will take her seriously! I still think Harper or Stuart would be better candidates. Harper's a war hero—Star of Terra due to his actions at Elysium during the Scyllian Blitz. And Stuart showed at Torfan that she can get the job done—no matter the cost."

"That's where you're wrong, Ambassador." Anderson interrupted, "Yes, on the surface, Harper looks like the ideal candidate. However, dig a little deeper and there are some troublesome elements."

"Such as?" Udina demanded.

"His connections with Terra Firma for one thing." Anderson replied, "Plus, he has a gambling addiction that leaves him open to corruption. All that's been concealed to make him into a media hero for propaganda purposes."

"I agree. It's only a matter of time before Harper's negatives come out. For now, we should keep him as a recruiting poster." Hackett decided, "And as for Stuart..."

"She's a sociopath." Anderson flatly declared. "Ruthless, cold, uncaring about how her actions impact others around her. Yes, she was the right person in the right place at the right time at Torfan, but anywhere else?" The captain shook his head, "She's a human Saren. We don't need her as our representative in the Spectres and neither does the rest of the galaxy."

"I've read the report on Stuart and have to agree with Captain Anderson." Admiral Hackett declared, "Stuart is a nuclear bomb waiting to explode. Better to keep her in a box until and unless she's needed."

"So...what makes Shepard the choice?" Udina demanded.

"Her personality and image is exactly what we need right now." Anderson replied, "Humanity is all too often seen by the other races as being brash and bullying. Shepard shows them that humans have another side."

"So...she's great for PR." Udina sniped, "But that still doesn't make her a good candidate for the Spectres."

"Oh...she can take care of herself." Anderson retorted, "Her actions on Akuze showed that."

"No one's doubting her courage or abilities, David." Admiral Hackett stated, "What's at question here is how will the other races perceive her?"

"That's why Nihlus will be coming with us." Captain Anderson replied. "He can judge Shepard for himself. He won't be influenced by preconceived notions or ideas. It will be his evaluation that will weigh most heavily in the minds of the Council."

"Will he judge her fairly?" Hackett inquired, "Or will he let the fact that she is a human influence his decision?"

"Nihlus is a fair man." Anderson unequivocally declared. "Whether she's human or not doesn't matter to him. The only thing he cares about is whether she can get the job done or not."

"So what do we know about her otherwise?" Udina inquired.

"Well, she was born on Mindoir on April 11, 2154 to Jonathon and Hannah Shepard, the youngest of two children...

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_**Mindoir 2154**_

The exuberant cries of the newest addition to the Systems Alliance's tiny colony of Mindoir threatened to drown out all other sounds in the colony's tiny clinic. "Congratulations, Jonathon and Hannah." Doctor Rice smiled, "You're the proud parents of a healthy and very vocal four kilogram baby girl."

"Hear that John-John?" The proud father exclaimed as he placed a hand on the shoulder of his four year old boy. "You've got a baby sister."

"I wanted a baby brother!" John Jr. pouted, "Girls are yucky!"

"She's going to need a big brother to look after her, John." John Sr. told his son in a quiet, grave, voice. "To protect her. I'm counting on you to step up to the plate and be that big brother. Deal?"

"Ok!" John Jr. replied as he saw his baby sister for the first time. "She's so red!"

"You were too when you were first born." The proud papa declared. "Why don't you go give your momma and baby sister a kiss."

"Ok, Daddy."

"So...what are you going to name the newest addition to the Shepard clan." The doctor asked with a big smile on his face as he handed the newborn baby girl back to her mother.

"Carrie." Hannah replied, "Carrie Lynn Shepard."

"Welcome to the universe, Carrie Lynn Shepard."

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"When did her biotic abilities surface?" Ambassador Udina asked.

"She was exposed in utero—probably as a result of her mother's work at the colony's spaceport." Anderson responded.

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_**Mindoir 2160**_

"Leave Mrs. Gillyflower alone, Johnny!" Little six-year old Carrie Shepard screamed.

"I'm an N7 soldier and I rescued her from batarian pirates!" Ten year old Johnny Shepard cried out victoriously as he hefted his toy Lancer assault rifle.

"What's going on here?" Hannah exclaimed as she entered the bedroom where the children were playing.

"We were having a tea party and Johnny stole Mrs. Gillyflower and all my other dolls!"

"I freed them, Mommy!" Johnny said in his defense, "She was a batarian pirate and was gonna make 'em into slaves."

"No I wasn't!" Carrie cried. Then as she reached for Mrs. Gillyflower, a blue field formed around her and the doll as the toy was pulled towards her.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Johnny cried out, half afraid and half proud. "Carrie's a..."

"Your little sister's a biotic." Hannah finished in a soft voice. Looking down on her daughter, Hannah smiled, "It's gonna be ok, Carrie. You're momma and daddy's little girl—don't you ever forget that."

"And you're my little sister." Johnny added, "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you."

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"Once it was discovered that she possessed biotic talents..." Anderson continued, "She was given special training. Her parents wouldn't let Conatix representatives anywhere near her. Instead, they and the colony pooled their resources and got her an asari tutor."

"That explains her openness to other races." Hackett observed.

"That background might also prevent her from putting human needs and interests first." Udina countered.

"It won't." Anderson retorted, "She is more than capable of standing up for human interests...

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_**Mindoir 2164**_

"You started it!" Ten year old Carrie shouted as she pushed Barrus, a turian exchange student in the school cafeteria.

"You humans started it and then wimped out!" Barrus snarled as he pushed back.

"We kicked your butts!" Carrie retorted as her body glowed blue.

"If it weren't for the Council, we'd have flattened you! You humans are cowards." Barrus shouted back as he formed a fist.

"Enough!" Vannae, Carrie's asari teacher shouted as she separated the two children in biotic spheres.

"Barrus...Carrie's right." Seeing Carrie's smirk of triumph, Vannae then turned her attention to her human student, "And Carrie...Barrus is right. The humans didn't know about the Council's prohibition on activating dormant relays or why it was put in place, Barrus. This was their first time out of their home system—they couldn't have known. It was wrong of the turians to attack them without trying to talk to them first."

"Ignorance is..." Barrus began only to be cut off by the teacher.

"Sometimes an excuse." Vannae interrupted, "Especially when you're dealing with children. And yes, Carrie...humans are still very much children. And like all children..." The asari teacher sighed, "You have to test boundaries and limits. It's a part of growing up."

"Yes, Matron Vannae..." Carrie politely responded.

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"Shepard stands up for humanity, but she understands that we're not an island alone." Anderson proclaimed, "She realizes that we have to learn how to work and live with the other species. That's part of the reason, after all, for the _Normandy_ Project."

"I read the account of her rescue from Mindoir. Ugly business that." Udina remarked, "It's a wonder she came through that unscarred."

"Oh...it left its mark on her." Anderson replied, "Make no mistake about that. She lost her entire family that day and most of the people she loved."

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_**Mindoir 2168**_

"Hurry up, Carrie!" Hannah called out to her teenage daughter. "Your brother's ship leaves for Arcturus Station in thirty minutes."

"And from there, it's one mass relay jump to Sol System and basic training." John Shepard, newly enlisted in the Alliance Marines smiled proudly as he buttoned up his shirt. This time next week, it'll be Private John Shepard, Alliance Marines."

"We're proud of you, Son." John Sr. remarked he hugged his son close to him.

"Yeah...way to go, Big Bro!" Carrie grinned s she threw a mock salute at her brother.

"Congrats to you too, Lil' Sis!" John Jr. smiled back. "Mindoir's first teen model."

"Yeah, I couldn't believe I won the contest." Carrie strutted triumphantly, "I was sure Helen Rodriguez was gonna win—she almost always does."

"We can talk in the transport." Hannah urged, "It wouldn't look good for Johnny to miss his ship—that's not how you make a good first impression."

"I'm coming!" Carrie replied, "I'm just gonna put Mrs. Gillyflower in my backpack for good luck!"

"I can't believe you still have that ratty old doll." Hannah shook her head.

"She's good luck, Momma!" Carrie retorted as she carefully placed her childhood toy in her backpack. "Ok...let's go!"

As the family drove down the dirt trail towards the tiny colony's spaceport, a bright flash coming from the spaceport, followed almost immediately by the earth rumbling, caused John Senior to lose control of the vehicle, sending it careening into the woods. Carrie felt a sudden crash...heard glass breaking and metal giving way as the transport's cabin was filled with screams...and then...darkness.

"Carrie? Carrie!?"

Everything was a blur to Carrie as she slowly regained consciousness. "Wha? What happened?" The blonde groaned as she tried in vain to sit up.

"Stay down, Sis." John Jr. whispered, "I gave you some medigel, but you're still weak. Here...drink this."

"Thanks." Carrie smiled weakly as she took a sip from her brother's canteen. "Where's mom and dad?"

As she saw the somber look on her brother's face, a cold chill ran down the teenage girl's spine, "No!" She sobbed, "No...No...NO!"

"They survived the crash." John said, "You put up a barrier sphere that stopped a good bit of the impact."

"Then...what happened?" Carrie asked.

"Batarians." John replied, pointing at the bodies of several batarian pirates littering the ground.

Seeing the rifle in her brother's hands, Carrie begged him, Please, John...tell me what happened?"

"Don't you remember?" Her brother asked. Seeing the blank look on his sister's face, John sighed, "Might be the concussion affecting you. After getting out of the transport, Dad got word that batarian slavers were attacking the colony. They'd taken out the spaceport and were rounding up people, killing those who resisted. They got...they got Talitha, Carr..."

"Oh no!" Carrie gasped.

"Killed Matron Vannae after she took out at least twenty of 'em." John reported grimly, "Guess that's what you get for messing with an asari matron."

"Then what happened?" Carrie asked.

"Mom and Dad decided to hide here in the woods." John explained, "Plenty of cover and they figured it was far enough away from the rest of the colony that the batarians wouldn't bother. Apparently..." He shook his head, "They found out about the farmsteads out here and sent raiding parties. One of the raiding parties found us and we fought. Mom and Dad died during the fighting. I thought they got you too—you were giving the four-eyes fits with your biotics—so they were really targeting you..."

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_**Earlier...**_

"Mom!" Carrie cried out as her mother's body practically turned to ash thanks to the batarians' incendiary rounds. As blood trickled down her eyes, Carrie tossed a singularity at the squad of batarians that had killed her mother, launching them into the air where her brother shot at them with a rifle that he'd taken from a dead pirate. As more batarians were sucked into the singularity, Carrie sent out a warp, detonating the singularity, sending fragments of batarians raining down in the forest.

Her father then rushed to where what was left of her mother lay, but before he could get there, he was felled by a rocket fired by a batarian heavy trooper. Now completely out of control, Carrie warped the heavy trooper and then threw him into and through a tree as the rest of the batarians targeted her. Her barriers fading, the blonde teenager finally collapsed to the ground, the last sound she heard being the steady stream of rifle fire from her brother.

"You collapsed as I took out the last of the pirates." John said as he urged his sister to take another sip of water. "You've been out for several hours now. I've been keeping watch. Every now and then a skycar with batarians flies over, but they haven't found us yet."

"So...what do we do now?" Carrie asked as she struggled to sit up.

"There's a cabin a couple of klicks from here. It belongs to the Warrens, but I don't think they'll mind us holing up there." We can rest and hopefully either the batarians will be gone or the Alliance will arrive."

"What about Mom and Dad?" Carrie asked as tears formed in her eyes.

"I...buried them." John said in a soft voice. "Over there. He pointed at an area near several trees. "We'll get the proper markers later. I don't want those bastards coming by and defiling their graves."

"You did the right thing, John." Carrie sobbed as she put a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Can I say...goodbye...before we go." She asked.

"Yeah, sure." John answered. "I'll wait here and keep an eye on things until you're ready."

"Thanks, John." Carrie said as she slowly made her way to her parents' final resting place. As she walked past the transport, the teenager saw an object lying on the ground. Bending down, she picked up the old doll, its clothing singed and dirty, but still intact. "Hello Mrs. Gillyflower." Carrie's lips turned up in a sad smile as she cradled her old toy.

Several minutes later, Carrie returned to her brother, "I'm ready, John."

"See if you can find us some food." John commanded as the two siblings entered the abandoned cabin.

"Ok, John." Carrie agreed. Searching the refrigerator and cupboards, the teenage girl came back with a plate of leftover chicken and a couple of apples. "Here. Eat." Carrie urged as she shoved the chicken towards her brother.

"No...you." John insisted, "Because of your biotics your metabolism is higher than mine. You need this more." Seeing that his sister was about to resist, John affected a stern expression, "You know you do. I've got plenty enough here."

"Thanks." Carrie replied as she began to wolf down the chicken, following it with an apple and at least a quart of water.

"God...you were hungry!" John laughed.

"I'm a growing girl." Carrie countered, showing the first trace of humor since their ordeal began.

"Get some rest now." John urged. "I'll stand first watch and wake you up in a couple of hours."

"Ok..." Carrie replied, "But don't forget to wake me up. I don't want you staying up all night so I can sleep."

"All right!" John exclaimed, "I promise."

Lying down on the bed, Carrie soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep until she was awakened by rough hands and her brother's urgent whisper.

"Wake up! They're here!"

"Wha..."

"The batarians. They just landed outside."

As she heard muffled voices and commands, Carrie's heart raced. "What do we do?"

"There's a way out through the basement." John whispered. "Take it, head for the woods, and don't look back. I'll hold them off here."

"No, John. We go together or stay together!" Carrie rasped as the voices outside grew closer and louder.

"Not this time." John shook his head sadly. "We'll never make it if both of us go—but if I stay here—I can buy you the time you need to make it to the woods and once you're in the woods, they'll never find you."

"John...I don't want you to..." Carrie sobbed.

"I don't want to either." John's lips turned up in a sad smile. "But I have to. It's a big brother's job to look after his little sister. Go, Lil' Sis...Please...and remember me and Mom and Dad."

"Always." Carrie vowed as she opened the door to the basement. Giving her brother one last look, she saw him checking over his rifle.

"Go, Lil Sis. Your big brother loves you."

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_**Arcturus Station 2183**_

"An Alliance patrol found her a week later in the woods. A couple of the men ended up with broken bones as they tried to approach her, but eventually they got to her and rescued her and a handful of other colonists who managed to escape." Captain Anderson reported.

"It's a pity her brother didn't make it." Ambassador Udina observed. "He'd have made a fine candidate."

"I agree." Admiral Hackett responded. "Even though he wasn't formally sworn in, after we found out what happened, we went on ahead and entered him into the active duty rolls. Private John Shepard was awarded the Medal of Valor posthumously for his actions on Mindoir."

"Had a different decision been reached...a different road taken..." Udina shook his head.

"We could very well be discussing the candidacy of John Shepard." Anderson agreed. "From what I've read and heard about him, I'd have been proud to have had him in my unit. His sister's made of the same stuff."

"What happened after her rescue?" Udina inquired.

"She was placed in foster care on Earth and, after psychological counseling, began taking an interest in acting and modeling as well as continuing her biotics studies." Anderson narrated. "At age sixteen, she received the L3 implants when she agreed to enter the Alliance's College Freedom Program.

"So that's how she ended up in the Alliance?" The ambassador remarked, further observing, "Under normal circumstances, those in that program do their required active duty and reserve obligations and then resign their commissions. What drove her to stay in—after all, she seems far more interested in her artistic ventures."

"Her brother's memory." Anderson flatly stated. "And..." The grizzled captain shook his head, "Something else. I'm not completely sure what it is. A desire to help others, maybe? The thrill of action? She once told me that using biotics in combat was sort of like painting an elaborate tapestry. I couldn't understand what she meant—but then, I'm not a biotic. I do know that while what happened on Mindoir did shape her, it didn't define her."

"She graduated the University of Miami with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and did her active duty time in the Alliance, entering the N program as a result of her actions dealing with Terminus pirates and achieved N7 status. And then...Akuze ."

"I won't bore you with the details about what happened on Akuze." Anderson said. "After Akuze and extensive psychological counseling, she went on reserve status and began modeling full time. It was during that period that she met up with Lieutenant Alenko and along with others, disrupted an attempted armed robbery of Flux, a Citadel nightclub."

"She was then reinstated on the active duty roster." Hackett remarked. "While she still models—as you can see, she's careful about maintaining a proper image as an Alliance officer and she donates a portion of her earnings modeling to the Alliance Relief Fund and organizes and models in the Fund's annual charity event."

"In other words..." Anderson politely interjected, "You won't see her on Fornax or any other magazine of that type."

"She sounds too good to be true." Udina grumbled as he saw his case against her collapsing. "No one is that clean."

"Oh...she has her dark side—make no mistake about that." Anderson replied. "It's just that she tries her best to not let it show and when it does come out, she directs it at the people who've earned it."

"I feel comfortable with her." Hackett declared as he looked into Ambassador Udina's eyes. "Ambassador?"

Conceding defeat, Udina exhaled, "I'll make the call."


	3. Chapter 3: Opening Night

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter 3: Opening Night

_A/N: Well, here's chapter 3 of the Carrie Shepard saga. My thanks to those still reading, I hope you're enjoying these little stories. I'd also like to thank Meren for your kind review. It really does mean a lot and encourages me to continue writing. Carrie is different from other femSheps. The real fun comes when Ashley makes her appearance—tough chick with gun meets fashionista—should be fun. Later on, it's Miranda—then it's meeeoooow time!_

_**Arcturus Station**_

"Welcome back, Commander!" Captain Anderson grinned as his new executive officer approached. "That uniform looks good on you."

Laughing, Commander Carrie Shepard quipped in response, "Not like you haven't seen me in it before. I wore one like it yesterday...and the day before...and the month before that..."

"Yeah." Anderson laughed, "But this is the first time you've worn it with that new stripe, Lieutenant Commander."

"Function over form." Carrie joked as she pulled at her uniform. "You'd think they could come up with a look that's more appealing."

"Well..." Anderson joked, "Why don't you submit a design to me and I'll buck it up the chain."

"I might just do that, Captain." Shepard chuckled as the two officers walked down the corridor towards the promenade area of the station.

"So...what are your plans for your day off?" Anderson asked as the two officers' conversation was interrupted by a loud squeal.

"Carrie!"

Turning quickly towards the source of the noise, a big, wide, toothy grin appeared on the blonde woman's face as she saw an asari woman and a redheaded human woman rushing towards her with their arms outstretched.

"Asryna! Laura!" Carrie screamed as she rushed towards her friends, embracing both of them while an assortment of Alliance military and government bureaucrats looked on in amusement and bemusement at the three women behaving like teenage girls. "What are you two doing here? I thought you were doing a shoot on Terranova!"

"We are." Asryna smiled, "But before we went, we had to see you."

"Yeah." Laura grinned, "You think we'd let you go on your brand new ship without a going away party?"

Glancing over in Anderson's direction, Carrie remarked, "Better get the boss's ok, first."

As the three girls approached the Captain, Asryna smirked, commenting just loud enough so that Anderson could hear her, "That your boss? Mmmmm...bet he likes embracing eternity..."

"Yeah." Laura leered, "You gonna introduce us to tall, dark, and handsome."

"Back off, girls." Carrie smirked, "He's already taken."

"Oh poo..." Laura pouted, "You never let us have any fun."

Trying to keep from laughing, Captain Anderson cleared his throat, "So...who are your friends, Commander?"

Blushing, Carrie introduced her fellow models, "This is Asryna..." She said as the asari smiled up at the Captain, and the redhead with the big mouth is Laura."

"My mouth's not big!" Laura retorted, "It's just very kissable."

"If it's all right with you, Captain..." Asryna grinned, "We're gonna take Carrie off and do very naughty things together."

"Just bring her back intact ready to go tomorrow." Anderson chuckled as the girls laughed.

"No promises..." Asryna smirked, "But we'll try."

"Are there any good spas around here?" Laura pouted, "It's been days since my last trip!"

"I know the perfect spot." Carrie grinned, "Beauty parlor that has it all." Flashing Asryna a crooked grin, the blonde remarked, "They've also got an asari on staff who everyone says is the best."

"Sounds good." The asari model replied, "It's your station, Carrie—you lead."

"Right." Carrie remarked as she took command, "We get the works at the beauty parlor. And then..."

"Shopping!" All three girls yelled out in unison.

Watching in amusement as the three models walked away, Captain Anderson chuckled as he heard a comment from the woman who was now standing next to him. "They remind me of kids from high school." Dr. Chakwas commented as her lips turned up in a kindly smile, "But...you know, David...it's good to hear laughter here."

"Isn't it though?" Captain Anderson agreed, nodding his head and smiling as he pointed to Carrie, "See the one in the middle—the one wearing the uniform?"

"The apparent ringleader of that little girl pack?" The grey-haired doctor answered chuckling, "Yes."

"That's Commander Shepard—your new executive officer."

Laughing, Doctor Chakwas commented, "Pressley's going to love this."

"He'll adjust." Anderson replied, his laughter temporarily vanishing. "So will everyone else. She's a good officer, Karin. That's why I chose her."

"Oh, of that I have no doubt." Chakwas agreed. "You've chosen everyone on that ship, so I have no doubts that Commander Shepard will be an excellent XO and that Pressley will do his job and do it well. But..." She chuckled, "It's still going be an interesting cruise."

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"Good idea, Asry..." Carrie sighed as she luxuriated in her mud bath, her eyes covered by cucumber slices. "So...who's doing the camera work for your shoot?"

"Stephen." Laura replied as a masseur worked her back.

"The same Stephen who did Marcella's shoot on Noveria?" Carrie exclaimed.

"The very same." Asryna affirmed as an attendant carefully rubbed perfumed oil on her head tentacles, paying attention to each individual tentacle. "Oh...that's nice." The asari model purred. "Too bad you girls don't have tentacles—you don't know what you're missing."

"Guess we'll have to settle for a full style...right, Laura?" Carrie chuckled.

"I think I can go with that." The redhead agreed. "I was thinking...since throwback looks are in now, I might go with a flip. What about you, Carrie?"

"Hmmm...I like the idea of going with a throwback style, but I've got to worry about wearing a helmet, so a bouffant or beehive is out."

"You could go with a pony tail or pig tails..." Laura suggested. "Simple and easy..."

"Naaah." Carrie disagreed, "I was thinking about going with short hair anyway. What do you girls think about a geometric cut?"

"Perfect!" Laura exclaimed. "Of course you'll have to touch it up every so often and watch out for frizzes...but it'll look good on you."

"Ok..." Carrie smiled, "You talked me into it."

"So...lunch after we get through here?" Asryna suggested.

"Sounds good." Carrie agreed.

"And then we hit the shops..."

"Before the shops hit us." The girls laughed as an attendant helped Carrie out of her mud bath. "Ok...shower and a real bath and then time to get hair done."

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"Dr. Chakwas!" Flight Lieutenant Jeffrey Moreau called out from his usual place at the _Normandy's _helm.

"What are you doing here, Jeff?" The grey-haired doctor inquired, "I'd have thought you'd be enjoying your last few hours of shore leave."

"Just wrapping a few things up here." The pilot replied. "Want to make sure everything checks out for when we ship out tomorrow. So..." He asked, "Where's the XO?"

"Saw her just before coming on board." The doctor grinned. "She went off with some friends of hers..."

"Were they good looking?" Joker quipped.

"I don't think you could handle them, Joker." Dr. Chakwas joked back.

"Probably not." The sarcastic flight lieutenant replied, "I'd just break something trying."

"I'll see you later, Jeff." Chakwas grinned as she made her way through the frigate's command and control center. As she got to galaxy map, she met Lieutenant Pressley standing next to the map, jotting down something into his log.

"Pressley." The doctor nodded her head in greeting.

"Dr. Chakwas." The bald navigator responded as he set his tablet down. "What can I do for you?"

"Just a social call, Charles. So..." The doctor inquired, "So...what do you think of Commander Shepard?"

"I haven't really had the chance to get that well acquainted with her yet, Doctor." Pressley replied. "We've met and talked a little, but only about work related stuff. She seems to know what she's doing even if she is a bit..."

"A bit what?" Karin prompted.

"Well..." Pressley leaned towards the doctor and lowered his voice, "...relaxed, I guess. A bit more informal than many of the officers I've served with..."

"Hmmm..." Dr. Chakwas murmured as she considered her reply. "You're mostly used to serving with line officers, right?" Taking the navigator's single head nod as confirmation, the doctor continued, "Well...it's been my experience that line officers, even those coming from the marines, are used to following a pretty set routine by and large. Regulations...orders...you're used to a pattern of behavior..."

"I'm not a robot!" Pressley objected, "I'm more than capable of thinking for myself."

"Of course you're not a robot!" Karin quickly and apologetically replied, "And I'm sorry if I came across thinking that way to you—I didn't mean to imply that at all." Seeing that her remarks had mollified the navigator, the doctor continued her analysis, "But you...like me and most other career officers, are used to using our initiative within a certain framework that can be rather...rigid...at times."

Nodding his head slightly, Pressley reluctantly acknowledged, "I guess I can see where you're coming from here. But what does that do with our new XO?"

"Well...first...as an N7, the type of assignments that she's normally assigned to often force her to think and step outside the traditional box that we're used to operating in. That alone encourages a bit more...let's say individualistic...tendencies. Add to that, what happened to her when she was a teenager..."

"That's right..." Pressley nodded his head, "She was at Mindoir."

"Lost her entire family." Chakwas said, "And then Akuze..."

"Damn..." Pressley shook his head, "It's a wonder she's still sane."

Her lips turning up in a warm smile, the doctor remarked, "With all that's happened to her, it would have been easy for her to have formed a shell around herself. To become hard...bitter...cynical. She seems to have found a way to avoid that."

"I guess so." The navigator agreed. "All that would have broken just about anyone else."

"It left its marks on her." Dr. Chakwas declared, "Have no doubts about that. It's just that she seems to have found a way to cope—for now at least."

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The store manager smiled as the three women who had earlier come into his store began to put on an impromptu fashion show. His smile grew even larger as he saw that their show was beginning to attract even more customers—paying customer. The manager then heard the asari's voice.

"And now we have the Alliance's own Carrie Shepard modeling a green sundress and matching hat!" Hearing the cheers as the blonde walked out wearing one of his most expensive outfits, the manager, knowing a good thing when he saw one, immediately signaled an employee to crank up the volume on the music. As the 'ooohhhs and aaaaahhhhs grew louder and more customers began rushing up to the sales clerks, the manager's smile grew even wider as the redheaded model was introduced, this time by Carrie.

Turning to his assistant, the manager ordered, "Give these girls whatever they want and then, when they're done, ask them to come and see me."

"You got it, boss." The assistant manager smiled and moved quickly to carry out her employer's instructions.

After about two hours, the spontaneous fashion show came to an end, but, much to the manager's delight, customers were still placing orders. As he glimpsed the three models, escorted by his assistant manager approaching, his smile grew even wider. "Ladies! I don't know what to say but thank you!"

"We were just having fun." Carrie grinned back.

"Yeah." Laura smiled, "We were just trying on outfits and things just spiraled from there."

"I hope we didn't cause you any problems?" Carrie said, "We didn't set out to be disruptive or anything."

"Cause problems?" The manager laughed, "Hardly. You ladies increased my sales at least ten times." Activating his omnitool, he smiled, "I'd like to do a little something for you in return. I've credited each of you with five thousand credits for anything you purchase here. I insist!" He exclaimed as the girls made ready to object, "You've brought in at least triple or more that in business both old and new. I've got government and Alliance military wives and significant others buying for themselves and husbands and significant others buying for their wives, husbands, and SOs. Please...this is my way of saying thank you."

"Well..." Carrie grinned as her friends nodded their heads in agreement, "All righty then! Ladies...let's see how quickly we can blow through that line of credit!"

Laura then pantomimed blowing a bugle as Carrie yelled out, "Charge!"

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Laughing as Lieutenant Alenko let Corporal Jenkins down, Dr. Chakwas approached the young lieutenant. "Managing your headaches ok, Kaiden?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah." Alenko responded. "Had a migraine a few days ago, but I rested and it subsided like all the others."

"Ok." Chakwas nodded her head, "For now we'll maintain your medication at current levels. I'd prefer to avoid upping your dosage if at all possible."

"You won't hear any complaints from me about that." The marine lieutenant agreed.

"I also don't want to see you using booze to kill the pain, either." Dr. Chakwas warned.

"You won't." Kaiden promised, adding defensively, "I only drink whiskey for recreational purposes and strictly in moderation. If you don't believe me, you can check my medical and service records. There aren't any skeletons or secrets in there."

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant." Karin quickly backtracked, "It's just that..." She confessed in a somber tone, "I knew someone who had L2 implants...a good friend...the pain and headaches...he'd never let me or anyone else help him until one day, the pain was too much and he put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. I don't want something like that happening to you."

"I understand, Doctor." Kaiden smiled kindly, "I promise you, if the pain gets too much, I'll come immediately to you." He then offered his hand, "Deal?"

"Deal, Lieutenant." Chakwas smiled as she shook the lieutenant's hand.

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"Thanks, girls!" Carrie smiled as she hugged her friends. "You girls know where I live."

"Don't worry...we'll stay in touch." Asryna smiled as the three girls took in the scenic view of the _Normandy_ docked.

"That's your ship?" Laura gasped.

"That's her." Carrie proudly answered back, "SSV _Normandy_."

"She's a beauty." Asryna whistled, "Not like most human ships. No offense, but most of your ships are butt-ugly looking."

"None taken." Carrie laughed, "And you're right." She replied, growing serious for a moment, "We humans right now do prefer function over form. I'd say you're looking at the turian influence in the ship's design."

"Definitely turian lines." Asryna agreed, "Your designers did good work—no doubt about that."

"You miss it, sometimes, Asry? Carrie asked, "The life, I mean?"

"No." The former commando shook her head, "Not after what happened to me and team on Omega. I promised myself after I made it out of that piss-hole that I was gonna hang up my guns forever and I meant it. Other than that time at Flux, I haven't fired a gun or used my biotics in combat since and I'm in no hurry to do it again."

"I guess I understand what you mean." Carrie sighed, "I still wake up screaming from the dreams..."

"Akuze?" Asryna gently interrupted.

"Yeah." Carrie replied with a single nod of her head. "Mindoir too. Spent months in psychotherapy and after that, I went on reserve status—that's when we met. The only reason I came back to active service was because of Captain Anderson. Otherwise, I'd be with you girls on the way to Terranova."

"He must be something." Asryna said.

"Yeah.." Carrie chuckled, "He's a hard man to say no to."

As the two combat veterans talked, Laura listened quietly, respectfully letting them converse amongst themselves until the two women, seeing their friend left out, each put an arm around her shoulders. "Hey Laura...we're sorry." Carrie apologized.

"Yeah." Asryna smiled, "We didn't mean to cut you out."

"It's ok." Laura smiled back as she hugged her friends back. "I understand. I guess there are just some things you girls have done that I just can't relate to."

"And you've seen and done some things we can't." Asryna said as she leaned her head on her friend's shoulder. "It's ok."

"Yeah, it doesn't change anything. We'll always be the Three Amigas, right!" Carrie proclaimed.

"That's right!" The other girls cried out in unison.

"Great!" Carrie gave her friends one last hug. "Well...I gotta get going now. Keep in touch and let me know how things go on Terranova and don't let Christine hog all the good poses—cow!"

"You take of yourself, girlfriend." Laura waved as their friend began to make her way towards the _Normandy's_ docking tube.

"Yeah!" Asryna shouted as she also waved goodbye. "Watch yourself out there!"

As Carrie made her way to her ship, a turian who had been a silent observer to the three girls' conversation nodded his head as he made mental notes. Making his way to the docking tube, the turian 'accidentally' bumped into the blonde woman, currently wearing a green sun dress with matching sun hat, gold earrings, and sunglasses also heading towards the Alliance frigate.

"I'm sorry." The turian apologized as he stepped back, curious as to the human's reaction to the sudden encounter. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Oh...that's all right." The blonde grinned, "You headed for the _Normandy _too?" She asked.

"Yes." The turian responded.

"Well..." The blonde invited, "Why don't we walk together. You coming aboard to check on how your ship's working?" She asked with a grin.

"Something like that." The turian replied, his mandibles moving to form the turian equivalent of a smile. "What about you? Going on board to say goodbye to someone on the crew?"

"Not really." The woman grinned as the pair approached the _Normandy's_ airlock and entered the ship. "I'm the ship's executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Carrie Shepard, at your service."

"I see you two have met." The deep, baritone voice of Captain Anderson interrupted the conversation, causing both the turian and the Shepard to turn towards the _Normandy_'s skipper.

"We haven't been formally introduced, Sir." Carrie replied as she came to attention.

"Stand easy, XO." The captain smiled. "This is Nihlus Kryik. He's a Council Spectre. He'll be accompanying us on our shakedown cruise."

"Aye, Sir." Shepard acknowledged.

"I'll discuss it more with you later, Commander." Anderson declared, "For now, though, I'm sure you'll want to get settled in and get changed into your working clothes."

"Yes, Sir." Carrie replied, "Thank you, Sir."

Watching as his protégé departed, Anderson turned his head towards the spectre, "Well...what are your initial impressions?"

"She didn't respond negatively to my being an alien..." Nihlus noted positively.

"Well...one of her friends is asari." Anderson pointed out.

"True." The spectre agreed, "But humans on the whole tend to respond favorably towards asari. Partly due to the asari's reputation, partly due to their relative human-like appearance. I find it more useful to judge human reactions to non-human races." The turian further explained, "Your race and mine because of our shared history as a result of the Relay 314 Incident. Krogans because of their intimidation effect. Salarians and other races because of their non-human phenotypes and cultural differences."

"So..." Anderson pressed, "What's your opinion?"

"She didn't seem upset about my being a turian." Nihlus noted, "That signifies that she's probably not influenced by the war. I am curious though..." He added thoughtfully, "...given her history...about how she might react to batarians. I think that reaction would prove most illuminating."

"Well..." Anderson pointed out, "I look for us to be spending quite a bit of time in the Traverse, so it's very probable you'll get the opportunity to see for yourself."

"I'm looking forward to it, Captain. Now..." The spectre declared as he politely ended the conversation, "I probably should get settled in as well." Lowering his voice, he added, "Eden Prime should prove most enlightening."

Nodding his head, Anderson released the spectre from their conversation. "Until later, Nihlus." Activating his computer, the captain then ordered, "Commander Shepard? Report to the bridge as soon as possible."

"Aye, Sir." Carrie promptly answered as she slipped out of her dress. "Well..." She sighed to herself as she removed her earrings and began to dress in her working uniform. "Time to get to work."


	4. Chapter 4: Overture

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter 4: Overture

"Hey, Kaiden. Come on in." Carrie waved Alenko into the little cubicle that served as her combination quarters and office. "Have a seat."

"Thanks, Ma'am." Lieutenant Alenko responded as he sat down, his eyes immediately drawn first to a ratty old doll set on a pillow on the Commander's bed and second to an Alliance Medal of Valor displayed prominently on a shelf next to an old photograph and assorted trophies.

Smirking as she recognized what had drawn the dark-haired lieutenant's attention, Carrie explained, "She's Mrs. Gillyflower." Carrie explained, nodding her head towards the doll, "I've had her since I was five. She goes everywhere with me. The trophies are from various modeling and beauty contests. And the medal..." She explained, her voice dropping to a whisper, "Belongs to John...my older brother. He...he...gave his life to give me a chance to escape when the batarians attacked Mindoir."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a brother in the Alliance." Kaiden replied in a sympathetic tone.

"Oh...he wasn't formally in the Alliance." Carrie explained, "He was supposed to get sworn in at the spaceport before being shipped off to recruit training. We were on the way to the port when the batarians attacked."

"Oh." The lieutenant remarked.

"The Alliance brass..." Shepard's lips turned up in a warm smile, "When they found out what happened, went on ahead and placed him on the active duty roster and awarded him the medal posthumously. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if it had been me instead of..."

"No. Don't say that, Carrie." Kaiden interrupted, placing a gentle hand on the woman's knee. "I don't think he would have wanted you to think that way."

"You're right." Carrie sighed as he placed her hand over the lieutenant's. "He wouldn't have." Gently removing Kaiden's hand from her knee, the commander stood up, "So...can I get you some hot tea? It's Formosa Oolong..."

"Where did you get hold of..." Kaiden laughed, "No...let me guess...our 'requisitions' officer, Specialist Pakti."

"Got it in one, LT." The blonde XO chuckled. "Pakti's got a pretty good thing going down there."

"You're not thinking of shutting him down, are you?" Kaiden asked.

Carrie shook her head vigorously, "Of course not! He's not dealing in anything illegal and he's good for morale." She said with a smile as she savored the aroma of her tea. "Besides, he's my connection for a lot of stuff like tea and makeup." Taking a sip of her tea, Shepard asked, "So...how are the L2s holding up? Or are you finally going to make the switch to L3s"

"I think I'm going to stick with the L2s." Kaiden chuckled, "Yeah...the headaches are a pain...Hey...no giggling at bad puns!" Kaiden laughed as his XO began to snigger at his unintended joke. "But seriously, for all their negatives, they do enhance my natural biotic power far more than the L3s."

"I guess I see where you're coming from." Carrie replied, "But...well...you know I'm more a finesse rather than power user. Although...the L5s they're testing seem intriguing."

"How so?" Kaiden asked.

"Well..." Carrie answered, "They're more powerful than the L3s, while at the same time enhancing the more subtle uses of biotics like dominating or reaving or setting stasis bubble traps."

"Reaving's not exactly subtle." Alenko chuckled.

"Can be if you do it right." Carrie grinned. "It all depends on how much power you put into it. Do it as a mild long-duration drain and the target generally doesn't even suspect until it's too late—kind of like a vampire."

"Sometimes..." Kaiden snorted, "You scare me, Carrie."

"Good." Carrie smirked back.

"So...what did you call me in here for?" Kaiden asked, "I'm sure it wasn't just to chat. What's up?"

"I just wanted to get your input on the ground team for Eden Prime before I make any decisions." Shepard replied.

"Sure...what do you want to know?"

"Well...I'll be taking you and I noticed that Corporal Jenkins was at the top of the roster. I wanted your take on him. You think he's up for it?"

"He's young." Alenko replied, "Enthusiastic—maybe a little too enthusiastic sometimes."

"Yeah." Carrie sighed, "That's what has me worried. I don't need any gung-ho rookies flying off half-cocked or putting their feet in their mouths at the wrong time."

"Hmmmm...I don't think you'll have that problem with Jenkins." Kaiden answered back. "Yeah...he can be a little hyper and he does have a tendency to run off at the mouth, but he follows orders and he does know when to shut up. He's a good marine, Commander. Also, he's from Eden Prime. He knows the territory and the locals."

"Good point." Shepard nodded her head. "All right, he's on the team."

"Great." Kaiden smiled as he stood up. "He'll be glad to hear that. With your permission, I need to get to the bridge, I'm copiloting this watch."

"Dismissed, LT." Carrie smiled. "On your way, could you ask Navigator Pressley to drop in. I want to touch base with all the senior officers before we hit the mass relay."

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"Lieutenant Pressley! Come on in and have a seat." Carrie urged as the bald headed navigator entered the XO's quarters.

"Ma'am." Pressley politely replied. "Lieutenant Alenko said you sent for me?"

"Yeah." Shepard replied as she sipped her tea. "I'm just taking the time before we get to Eden Prime to get better acquainted with the senior officers. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"No, thanks, Ma'am." The navigator stiffly replied.

"Relax, Pressley." Carrie grinned, "This is an informal chat, not your performance evaluation." Shaking her head as the navigator retained his stiff posture, Carrie sighed, "Ok...straight to business then. How long until we reach Eden Prime?"

"Not long, Ma'am. We should be at the mass relay in a few hours and then a couple of hours travel from the Exodus cluster relay to Eden Prime."

"Good." Carrie nodded her head. "And our stealth systems?"

"Optimal." Pressley replied, "Although Chief Adams could tell you more."

"I'm speaking to him after you." Shepard grinned. "And how's our turian guest doing?"

His eyes narrowing, Pressley answered, "Fine, Ma'am."

"You sure?" Carrie asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." Charles nodded his head. "Nihlus..." The navigator almost spat the name out, "...has pretty much kept to himself."

"I see..." Carrie drawled, "Lieutenant? Do you have a problem with turians?"

"Permission to speak freely, Ma'am?" Pressley asked.

Nodding her head, the commander responded, "Permission granted. Go ahead, give me your honest opinion."

"Ma'am." Pressley took a deep breath. "Nihlus is a loose cannon."

"How so?"

"He's a Council spectre and this is a Human Alliance vessel." Pressley declared, "You, me, the rest of the crew, we answer to Captain Anderson and Captain Anderson answers to his superiors. We have a chain of command. Nihlus is outside that chain. He doesn't answer to the captain or to the Alliance."

"I see..." Carrie thought carefully before continuing, "Where did you serve before the _Normandy_, navigator?"

"I was on the _Agincourt_ before the _Normandy_," Pressley stated proudly. "One of the first reinforcements to arrive at Elysium after the Skyllian Blitz. After Elysium I received my commission and Captain Anderson asked me to serve on the _Normandy_. I couldn't refuse."

"Don't feel bad." Carrie grinned, "I couldn't refuse him either. What drove you to enlist?" Shepard asked as she fixed a fresh cup of tea for herself.

"Family." The navigator responded. "My grandfather served in the First Contact War..."

_Ding! Ding! Ding!_ _We have a winner!_ "I see..." Shepard quietly listened as Pressley laid out his suspicions.

"So..." Carrie observed, deciding for now to put off discussing the navigator's apparent anti-alien biases. "You think something shady is going on?"

"Not for me to say, Ma'am." Pressley replied cautiously, "But why are we making this run with just a skeleton crew? And why is Nihlus on board? We're here under false pretenses, Ma'am, and I'm not fond of being left in the dark."

"Well Lieutenant..." Carrie smiled as she ended the interview, "Secrets and 'Need to Knows' are something we all have to deal with when we put on this uniform. Best thing for us to do is just do our jobs and Captain Anderson will let us both know what we need to know when we need to know it—right?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The navigator, coming to attention, rendered a crisp salute.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You can send Lieutenant Adams in now."

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As she sipped her tea, Carrie could barely hear Pressley and Adams talking to each other outside her cabin. "Relax, Charles. You'll give yourself an ulcer."

"I don't like it, Greg. This whole thing smells rotten. He's a turian and a spectre."

"You're just upset because he's messing up your routine, Pressley."

"Maybe...but still..."

"It'll work out, Charles. Now...I better go. It's my turn to see the XO. She in a good mood?"

"Pretty good." Charles answered, "Not quite what I thought she'd be."

"What do you mean?" Adams asked.

"She's no dummy." Pressley concluded, "And she knows how to listen to people. Dr. Chakwas was right—she's not by-the-book. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing though."

"Sometimes it can be a good thing." Adams remarked, "And sometimes a bad thing. Depends on whether she knows which situation's which."

"That's what has me worried." Pressley glumly stated as he walked away.

Pausing at the threshold to her cabin, Lieutenant Adams politely knocked.

"Come in Chief Adams." Carrie smiled, deliberately referring to the lieutenant by his title of chief engineer. "Help yourself to some tea or coffee and have a seat."

"Thanks, Ma'am." Adams replied as he poured himself a mug of coffee and sat down.

"So, Chief..." Carrie asked as she passed in front of the engineer before sitting down behind her desk, "What did you do before Captain Anderson snared you for the _Normandy_?"

"I've served on pretty much everything the Alliance has." Adams smiled, "If it flies, I've been on it."

"Where was your last assignment?" Carrie asked.

Taking a sip of his coffee, the engineer replied, "The _Tokyo_, Ma'am. Don't get me wrong, she was a fine ship...good captain...great crew...solid. But...it can't hold a candle to the _Normandy_."

"How so?" Shepard asked.

"The _Normandy_'s a hot rod, Ma'am." Chief Adams grinned, "She's fast, sleek, and the IES Stealth System gives her an edge no other ship, inside or outside the Alliance, possesses. We can slip into an enemy controlled system, drop off a recon or strike team, and slip out without no one knowing or we can hover within the system and monitor enemy activities without being detected."

"I like that." Carrie smiled, "And it's also good to know that we can get out of trouble as fast as we got into it."

"Yes, Ma'am. Although..." The chief warned, "You do have to vent the heat sinks every so often and that makes us stick out like a sore thumb."

"Thanks." The blonde XO nodded her head, "That's good to know. So..." She asked as she sipped her tea, "Any family?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Adams smiled warmly, "Parents in the Alliance and the Missus...she's back on Earth. Speaking of which...I was wondering if I could ask..." The engineer cleared his throat, unsure as to whether to proceed.

"Go ahead, Chief." Carrie prompted.

"Well, Ma'am. The Missus's birthday's coming up and I couldn't help but catch a whiff of your perfume and..."

"Say no more, Chief." Carrie smiled. "It's called Asura's Breath. It's an asari brand. When's your wife's birthday?"

"June 18, Ma'am." Adams replied.

"Ok...we can do it." The XO grinned, "Thing is...what works for me might not be what your wife likes or wants. So...why don't we do this? Just give me her address on Earth and I'll see that some samples, including Asura's Breath are sent to her by her birthday with your name on it and she can choose what she likes."

"Thanks, Ma'am...but I couldn't..."

"I insist!" Carrie urged, "We probably won't be able to make it back to Earth by her birthday, so it's the least I can do. If you're worried about the cost—you can pay me back when you're able or, even better, why don't you just pay it forward by doing something nice for someone else."

"Thanks, Commander!" Adams' lips turned up in a wide grin.

"Well..." Carrie smiled back as she offered her hand, "I better let you get back to your engines. I've got to get up to the bridge and say hello to Joker."

Taking her hand and gently shaking it, the Lieutenant responded, "It was a pleasure, Commander. Feel free to come by and see the engines any time."

"I will, Chief." Carrie vowed as Adams turned to leave, "See you later."

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As Carrie exited the lift and set foot on the bridge, she heard Jenkins and Chakwas talking near the comm. room. "Nihlus can do whatever he wants...kill anyone he wants..."

"You've been watching too many spy-vids, Jenkins."

"i see you're discussing our passenger." Carrie grinned as she approached the pair.

"So, what do you think, Commander?" The always enthusiastic Jenkins inquired, "You think we're gonna see some action."

"Your action usually ends up with me having to fix you up." Dr. Chakwas grimly noted.

"C'mon, Doc!" Jenkins practically whined, "It's so boring..."

"Take a deep breath, Corporal." Carrie commanded with a smile on her face, "Now exhale. Do that a few more times. Good." She said soothingly, "You don't need to go down there trying to prove yourself, Jenkins..."

"That's easy for you to say, Commander." The corporal remarked, momentarily forgetting who he was talking to, "You've already proven yourself at Akuze..." Seeing the sharp glare directed at him from the commander, the young marine quickly realized his mistake, "I'm sorry, Ma'am." He quickly apologized, "I didn't mean to..."

"It's all right, Jenkins." Carrie replied in a soft voice, "Just rein in that eagerness of yours. A little keyed up is good...a lot keyed up is bad...very bad. Understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am." A much more subdued Jenkins replied.

"Good." Carrie smiled, "Why don't you go below decks and check on your gear, Corporal. We should be at Eden Prime soon and you'll want to be ready when the go order's given—right?"

"I better be going too, Commander." Dr. Chakwas said as she turned towards the stairwell, her eyes reflecting her approval at how Shepard had handled the young corporal. "I'll see you later."

"Later, Doctor." Carrie replied. Making her way towards the pilot's section, Shepard nodded her head in greeting at the officers and ratings she passed by until, finally reaching her destination, she heard Nihlus, "Fifteen hundred k is good. Your Captain will be pleased." Nodding her head at the turian as he slipped past her, Carrie heard Joker's sarcastic complaint over Nihlus's praise, followed by Kaiden's retort.

"So, Commander." Joker probed as Shepard took her position behind the helmsman, "What do you think the real story is—why are we really out here and why is Nihlus here?"

Carrie replied with a smirk and a gentle laugh, "Spoilers, Joker! We'll find out when we find out. Don't want to ruin the surprise now, do you?"

"Yeah..." The helmsman replied, "If the surprise is an ugly one I do."

Captain Anderson's voice then came over the speaker commanding Joker to set up a comm line, then, when the pilot warned the captain that Nihlus was coming in to see him, all three officers cringed slightly as Anderson, after chewing the flight lieutenant out, commanded Shepard to report to the comm room.

"Thanks, Joker..." Carrie sighed melodramatically, "You had to go and land me in the hot seat, didn't you?" Turning to Kaiden, Carrie cracked a half smile, "If I don't come back, Lieutenant, you get custody of Mrs. Gillyflower."

"Yes, Ma'am." Kaiden winked as Carrie turned. Swiveling in his chair, Joker watched appreciatively as Carrie walked away. "Joker!" Kaiden whispered in as low a voice as possible, "Why don't you try to be a little less obvious."

"About what?" Joker asked with a lecherous grin.

"About gawking at the Commander's ass." Kaiden remarked.

"I don't see you looking away." Joker retorted as both men took the time to enjoy the view before Carrie finally dropped out of sight, "And now, we're done." Joker lamented as he and Kaiden returned to their instruments.

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Entering the comm room, Carrie's alert eyes immediately spotted Nihlus standing before the monitor. "Nihlus? I thought the Captain was going to be here."

"He's on his way." The spectre explained, "I wanted to speak with you for a few moments in private before he arrived."

"What about?" Carrie asked as she strolled around the room.

"This planet we're going to...Eden Prime...what do you know about it?" Nihlus asked.

"Not a whole lot, really." Carrie shrugged, "I know it's supposed to be incredibly lovely. I was going to do a photo shoot there a few months back with Asryna and Laura for _Sports Illustrated_—their swimsuit issue—but the shoot got suddenly moved to Thessia—no one ever gave a reason. Why do ask?"

"It's supposed to be a paradise...a symbol of how far humanity's come...of humanity's ability to protect itself out here." Nihlus declared, "But is humanity really ready, Commander? The galaxy is a dangerous place."

"You don't have to tell me that, Nihlus." Carrie replied, her face darkening, "You're forgetting, I came from Mindoir. I lost my entire family and almost everyone I loved when the batarians hit us. Believe me, I know exactly how dangerous it is out here."

"Point taken, Commander." Nihlus bowed his head momentarily almost as if in silent prayer as Captain Anderson entered the room.

"I think it's time we told Commander Shepard the real reason for you presence here, Nihlus." Anderson declared as he strode to the center of the room.

"I agree, Captain. I think Commander Shepard is an ideal candidate."

"Ideal candidate for what?" Carrie asked as her heart rate increased.

"To be the first human spectre, Commander." Anderson smiled.

Chuckling, Carrie responded, "Me? You've got to be kidding! There's at least a dozen candidates better qualified than me. Hell—you've got Harper, the Hero of the Skyllian Blitz and Stuart, the Butcher of Torfan—who'd jump at the chance. Me...six months ago, I was on reserve status striking a pose and doing perfume and other commercials."

"The other candidates were all considered and rejected, Shepard." Anderson replied.

"You're a survivor, Shepard." Nihlus flatly stated. "Your experiences on both Mindoir and Akuze revealed that you possess strong internal reserves and an indomitable will—both highly desirable attributes in a spectre. You also possess a determination to succeed regardless of the personal cost."

"You're also used to being in the limelight, Shepard." Anderson noted, "The cameras don't bother you—you enjoy them. You can handle the increased media spotlight and scrutiny better than the others. And believe me, as the first human spectre, you are going to attract a lot of attention."

"I'm going to go back to my quarters and check my email and find a ton of messages from Members of Parliament, Admirals, Generals, politicians, statesmen, and military figures, aren't I, Captain?" Carrie wryly commented.

As a slight smirk crossed his lips, Captain Anderson replied, "The Alliance needs this, Shepard."

"All right..." Carrie sighed, bowing down to the inevitable, "So...how do we do this? Is there some sort of qualifying exam or Spectre School or something like that I've got to go through?"

Chuckling, Nihlus replied, "Something like that. We'll be going on several missions together, starting with this one on Eden Prime. I'll be evaluating you on these missions and reporting back to the Council. They'll be the ones who make the final call—although my recommendation will carry a great deal of weight."

"Eden Prime?" Shepard inquired, raising her eyebrows, "What's going on with Eden Prime that would attract a spectre's attention?"

As Nihlus nodded his head, Captain Anderson explained, "There's a reason why your shoot on Eden Prime was cancelled. Archaeologists there found something remarkable—an intact Prothean beacon."

"Ouch!" Carrie exclaimed, "Well, that'll cancel a swimsuit shoot."

"Indeed." Nihlus nodded his head. "They've finally excavated it completely and it's ready for shipping. We're to go down, investigate and retrieve, and then bring the beacon back to the Council for further study and analysis."

"I'm glad to see the Alliance do the smart thing for a change and come clean on the beacon rather than let the black ops boys and girls run things." Carrie noted approvingly.

"That's an interesting position for a human to take, considering the Alliance's strained relations with the Council races." Nihlus commented, his face an expressionless mask, "What brought you to that conclusion?"

"Simple common sense." Carrie shrugged her shoulders, "Hiding Prothean artifacts is one of the biggest no no's in the Council's book. There's no way to keep something this big quiet for long. Word will get out—someone will blab and the colony will still get a visit from you or one of your fellow spectres, only it won't be the nice, friendly visit that you've got planned. It'd be more a smash and grab where people are liable to get hurt or killed. This way, humanity gets brownie points with the other Council races for being cooperative and still gets to share in any discoveries. The other way leads to even more strained relations between the Alliance and the Council which neither of us need."

"Good analysis." Nihlus nodded his head approvingly as Joker interrupted their conversation.

"Captain? I think you're going to want to see this." Images of the colony under attack then flashed on the monitor the footage ending with a female marine calling for help.

Anderson ordered, "Nihlus, I want you ready to move ASAP. Shepard...I want you, Alenko, and Jenkins geared up and ready to go pronto."

"Right, Captain." Shepard crisply acknowledged as she and the spectre moved quickly. "Looks like the evaluations begin a little quicker than we thought." Carrie muttered to Nihlus as the pair left the comm room together.

"Apparently so, Commander." Nihlus agreed. "I'll see you in the hangar bay soon."

_**A/N**__: Again, I want to thank those reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing these stories. Thank you for your kind words Amy and Meren. I want to take a moment to talk about canon: While Carrie's not your standard femShep by any means, I am trying to keep to __**general**__ game canon: the events on Eden Prime will take place more or less as they took place in game; Virmire, Noveria, Feros, etc. will happen as they happen in game—although there might be some variations to fit in with Carrie's character a bit more. I've taken some liberties in setting conversations as you can see in this chapter. The game has Shepard talking with Pressley, Jenkins, and Chakwas on his/her way to the captain. That makes sense from a game perspective—it's an easy way to get the player's feet wet as to characters and what's going on in the game universe. However, those of us who've been in the military know that when the Captain wants to speak with you now—you go NOW! You don't stop and have conversations with everyone on the way. So, I altered things a bit here. I also altered the conversation with Nihlus to keep it from being stale. This is not and will not be a rehash of the games. There'll be elements from the games here, but there's going to be a lot of in-between and while stuff going on too. Also, there's no way Anderson would hit on Shepard! :) He's her mentor, friend, and something of a surrogate father figure. Frankly speaking, I think an Anderson/Shepard ship would come across as more than a little incestuous so, there's no way I was going to go there. No, I'm sticking to canonical ships for Shepard with maybe one or two __**minor**__ and unimportant OC ships—(cough)Asryna(cough)—but that'd be it. Besides, I think people already have an idea as to what one of the major canon ships is going to be...(cough)Shenko(cough)._

_Well...that's it for now. I hope you enjoy this part and please feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think. And for those following my other stories: I'm currently working on the next part for "That's 70s Gate", and putting the final touches on the next part of "Who are You"._


	5. Chapter 5: Eden Prime

Strike a Pose

Chapter 5

_**Eden Prime: The evening before the attack...**_

"Two-Twelve...Ten-Hut!" Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams barked out.

"Stand at ease!" Major Craig Forester ordered, "Listen up, Two-Twelve! I've got your marching orders here. We're to provide perimeter security for the archaeologists working on those Prothean ruins along with the Two-Three-Two. This should be nothing more than a milk run. Our job is to make sure none of the locals make off with anything from the site they're not supposed to. An Alliance ship will be here soon to pick up the beacon and then we'll be done and we can go on to our respective leaves and then our next assignment. Check your weapons and gear and get a good night's sleep. We roll out at 0530 tomorrow. That'll be all!"

"Two-Twelve!" Gunnery Chief Williams bellowed at the top of her lungs, "Ten-Hut! Dismissed!" As the squad bay returned to its normal routine, Ashley took a deep breath. Making her way to her locker, Williams once again checked over her combat armor and gear.

"As if you're gonna need it, Chief." Corporal Anthony Baker grumbled, "The most dangerous thing we gotta worry about here are gasbags."

"_Semper_ _paratus_, Baker. Always be prepared." Ashley replied, giving the corporal a stern look as she gave her Lancer assault rifle a final check before placing it back in its proper spot. "Never know what might happen. Those science ships at Relay 314 thirty years ago didn't plan on getting jumped by the turians."

"Yeah...right..." Baker muttered under his breath as he stalked away so that his volatile chief could not hear him. "Need to get that stick outta your ass, Gunny. Ain't no way the brass gonna give Wimpy Williams' granddaughter anything other than crap assignments for as long as you're wearin' that uniform."

Catching the fragrant aroma of spices, Ashley called out, this time in a much more cheerful voice, "Hey, Nirali! What you cookin'? Smells like chicken curry!"

"It is, Gunny!" The dark skinned Serviceman replied as she held out a spoonful for the chief to sample.

"Your recipe?" Ashley asked as her taste buds savored the spicy, flavorful bite.

"No." Nirali smiled, "Not this time. This is Samesh's mother's recipe."

"Mmmm...it's good." Ashley praised as she took another bite. "So...you still planning on meeting up with Samesh for leave?"

"Yes, Gunny." The 212's medical corpsman replied as she prepared two bowls of curry—one for herself and one for the chief. "We're going to meet on the Citadel." She smiled warmly as she nudged Ashley's bowl towards the chief, insisting on her taking it. "He sent me the loveliest vidmail today. I can't wait to play it tonight before going to bed."

"That's sweet." Ashley said as she took her bowl and began eating. "I wish..."

"One of these days, you will, Gunny." Nirali smiled, "You just have to meet the right person."

"I'm not so sure..." Ashley sighed, "It's weird..." The dark-haired marine said, "But have you ever had one of those dreams..."

"What do you mean, 'those dreams'?" Nirali asked.

"A dream that just sticks with you and won't go away." Ashley shook her head, "I'm not sure I'm explaining it right."

"I know what you're talking about." Nirali smiled, "When did you have the dream?"

"Last night." Ashley replied, "I saw this man. Handsome in the weather-beaten, rugged, sort of way, you know."

"Yes." Nirali smiled as she encouraged the chief to continue.

"He was definitely a marine." The chief recounted, "Wore black combat armor with dark red trim and had an N7 symbol on the left chest..."

"Not bad." Nirali chuckled, "At least you're going with the best."

"Yeah." Ashley snickered, "Anyway, he had piercing blue eyes, kind of an oval-roundish face, black hair that he kept really close cropped and there was a scar that cut into the hair, but it actually made him look more attractive. He had a little bit of stubble on him and a wicked grin that was kinda charming and goofy at the same time."

"Sounds like the sort of guy I'd dream up if I didn't have Samesh." Nirali remarked.

"What's really spooky..." Ashley said, her voice barely above a whisper, "Is that he gave me this really sad look. Like he knew me and missed me—although I've never met him before in my life." Ashley said as she fidgeted uncomfortably, "He then smiled at me, but it was kind of a bittersweet smile, you know?"

"Did he say anything?" Nirali asked.

"Not much." Ashley replied, "He just said, 'Take care of her.' And then he said, 'I should go,' and he turned and walked away and that's when I woke up."

"Wow." Nirali gasped, "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know." Ashley shook her head, "And it's been bugging me ever since."

_Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, report to Major Forester's office immediately._

"Well...I better go." Ashley sighed, "The Major probably wants to go over tomorrow's mission. Better not keep him waiting. And you..." She smiled as she looked down on the dark-skinned medic, "Get a good night's rest. You'll want to be fully charged when you meet your husband in a few days."

"Right, Chief." Nirali smiled as the chief walked away. "I hope everything works out for you, Gunny." Serviceman Bhatia whispered, "If anyone deserves happiness, you do."

As she approached the major's office, Gunnery Chief Williams snapped to attention and rapped three times on the doorsill.

"Enter." Major Forester commanded. As the chief marched into the office and halted in front of the desk, still at attention, Forester ordered, "At ease, Gunny. Sit down."

"Thank you, Sir." Williams replied as she took a seat in the chair in front of her CO's desk.

Taking a deep breath, Major Forester, shook his head sadly as he exhaled. "I'm sorry, Gunny." He said apologetically as he handed a piece of paper to Ashley. Looking down at the paper, the gunnery chief gritted her teeth as she saw the words 'Request Denied' stamped on the front of the paper. "I tried my best to push it through. Thought I had it, then some REMF must have seen it and forwarded it direct to Admiral Mihailovich who personally rejected it."

"I know you did everything you could, Sir." A downcast Ashley replied, "And thank you—I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

"I just wish I could do more, Gunny." Forester shook his head, "If there was any justice in the galaxy, you'd be at least a staff lieutenant now and maybe even a candidate for the N program—at the very least, you'd have an S designator, and not that B4 you've got now." Taking another deep breath and exhaling, the major continued, "Still...no use whining about it, right?"

"Right, Sir." Ashley agreed.

"That's my gunnery chief." Forester smiled approvingly. "Since I've got you here, I want to go over tomorrow's mission brief. Like I told the unit, it's really a milk run. We're going to be conducting perimeter patrols guarding the dig site while the Two-Three-Two keeps an eye on the scientists and archaeologists."

"Yes, Sir." The chief nodded her head.

"Also, we suspect there's a local smuggling ring at work centered at the spaceport." The major declared, adding in a somber, angry tone, "And, much as I hate to say it, I think some of our people might be involved."

"Do you have any leads, Sir?" Ashley inquired.

"Not at this time." The major shook his head. "Supplies...pistols...grenades...mods...that were supposed to go to us aren't reaching us."

"I've noticed gaps in our inventory too, Sir." The chief responded, "I'd filed a report."

"Yeah." Forester nodded his head, "I got it. Your report's one of the reasons why I'm prioritizing this. But, go on..."

"Thank you, Sir." Ashley responded, smiling slightly at her CO's praise. "At first I just thought they were due to the usual logistics screw ups. There wasn't anything potentially mission critical—at least nothing that I was aware of."

"There was an experimental high explosive grenade launcher mod that we were supposed to test out that's come up missing." Forester admitted. "It wouldn't have shown on your inventory list, so, don't kick yourself in the butt for missing it. I think the smugglers got it."

"You think they might be Terra Firma extremists?" Ashley asked.

"No." The major shook his head, "I don't think so. I think what we're dealing with here are locals looking to make a quick credit. If they'd have just stuck to small stuff like rations or non-critical mechanical parts, I'd have just punted it to the colonial authorities and let them handle it, but weapons and mods are another matter entirely. We can't risk those getting into the wrong hands. Keep focused on the main mission—protect that dig site and that beacon, but if in the course of your duties you manage to get a lead on those smugglers, then feel free to track them down and deal with them."

"Yes, Sir!" Ashley enthusiastically acknowledged.

"So..." The major asked as he relaxed slightly, "How do you plan to spend your leave once this mission is over?"

"Going to see my sisters." Ashley smiled. "Sarah's getting ready to graduate high school and I'd really like to be there if at all possible."

"Well...I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to make it." Forester replied, "We'll be done here in a day or so and I don't see any potential problems on the horizon—still you can never tell in this line of work."

"No, Sir." Chief Williams agreed.

Shaking his head, Forester lamented, "You don't belong here, Williams. You know that and I know that. You're like me—we're lifers. We bleed Alliance blue. Most of the others here—they're good people, don't get me wrong—but they're short-timers. They're like Serviceman Bhatia, who enlisted under the Deferred Education Plan or most of the junior lieutenants here who got their commissions through the College Freedom Program. They're here to do their obligated service and then get out."

"But sir..." Ashley politely objected, "Serviceman Bhatia is an excellent corpsman and a valued member of the 212..."

"Oh no question." Forester smiled, "Almost all of our short-timers are good people. We've only got a couple like Baker who I'd call slackers. It's just that they see the Service as a stepping-stone to other things—a necessary first step towards their ultimate career goals—and there's nothing at all wrong with that. In fact, I hope they come away with a greater sense of confidence and understanding of such things as teamwork from their time in the Service that they'll take with them to their future careers. For us, though, the Service **is** our life—our career. We have a commitment to it that someone who is a short-timer doesn't."

"I see what you mean, Sir." Williams replied, nodding her head.

"And that means we frequently have to make sacrifices." The major sighed as his eyes fell to a photograph of a woman and two children on his desk. "And sometimes..." Forester said, looking Ashley square in the eyes, "Good people get raw deals for no other reason than because they have the wrong name."

"Understood, Sir." Ashley said in a soft voice.

"Don't lose heart completely, Williams. I still have one last trick up my sleeve that I'm going to play." The major grinned, "The ship coming in tomorrow to pick up that beacon, the _Normandy_, happens to be skippered by a good man, Captain David Anderson. I haven't met him personally, but I know him by reputation and I know people who know him. I plan on speaking to him tomorrow about you. No guarantees." Forester warned as he saw the optimistic look on his Gunnery Chief's face, "But I'll do my best."

"Thank you, Sir." Chief Williams smiled, "I appreciate it!"

"Dismissed, Gunny." The lieutenant nodded his head approvingly, "Get yourself a good night's sleep—long day, tomorrow."

As Ashley returned to the squad bay, she saw several of the 212 clustered in front of the giant vid monitor, sitting on couches or chairs with a few making themselves comfortable on the floor. "What's going on?" The gunnery chief asked.

"Biotiball match." Private Green shouted back, "New York Cosmos versus Armali Contessas."

"Who's winning?" Ashley asked as she found room on a couch.

"Armali, of course." Green replied. "The Cosmos are putting up a good fight but...Awww Jeez! Another Armali goal!" The private moaned. "That Contessa forward is just too good with her throw."

"She's probably been doing this for a hundred years." Ashley quipped as she popped open a beer, swigging it as the game switched to a commercial.

_An Alliance marine is running an obstacle course. The marine is wearing full combat armor and a helmet with breather hiding all facial features. The marine climbs a wall, crawls under barbed wire, zip-lines over a stream, and fires off several rounds at a target on the range. The marine then removes her helmet to reveal an attractive woman with blonde hair and pearly white teeth. The picture fades and then we see the silhouette of that woman taking a shower. The picture again fades and we next see the blonde woman wearing a sky-blue evening gown with jewel necklace. The woman picks up an old fashioned perfume atomizer and sprays some perfume on herself._

_The door knocks and the woman answers it, revealing a lovely asari maiden with a single rose that she gently places in the blonde's hair. The asari wraps an arm around the human's waist and the woman does likewise with the asari. A female voiceover announcer with a sultry voice then speaks:_

"_Asura's Breath. Because the marine during the day is also a woman at night."_

"Heh. How corny can you get?" Ashley mocked, "The marine during the day is a woman at night!"

"I don't know, Gunny." Corporal Sandra Nelson smirked, "Sounds kinda catchy. No way I could afford that perfume though. Saw some of it in a store back on the Citadel. You gotta be at least a staff lieutenant to afford just the sampler size. That asari stuff is expensive!"

"I'll settle for a good ol' discount human brand anytime—for the one or two times during the year I actually have to wear perfume, that is." Ashley guffawed, "Besides, I bet that woman isn't even a real marine. Wonder what actor they got to play the part. Figures they'd pick a blonde."

"I heard from someone that she's a real marine and an N7 to boot." Green retorted.

"Yeah...right." Ashley replied in a derisive tone, "And I'm going to be the first human spectre. Bet blondie-blonde couldn't run one klick without stopping to catch her breath, or hit a single target with a trainee's rifle at ten meters."

"Uh Oh." A private exclaimed, "Here come the blonde jokes."

"Not tonight, boys and girls." Ashley announced as she finished her beer. "I'm hitting the rack and you better too. We've got a long day tomorrow." Returning to her rack, Ashley stripped to her underwear and pulled back the covers. Before going to bed, she took out an old, worn, Bible and opened it to Proverbs, 24:14: _Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off._

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Eden Prime stank. That smell of decay and death was the very first thing Carrie noticed as she and her ground party touched down. The second thing was the sky—blood red with blotches and trails of smoke everywhere.

"Damn." Kaidan whispered as his eyes conducted a quick scan of the area. "Whatever hit here tore this place up."

"My home." Jenkins sobbed as he looked around, "It's all gone."

"Stay focused, people." Carrie commanded as memories of Mindoir flashed through her mind, "Remember, we've got a job to do."

"Yes, Ma'am." Both Kaidan and Jenkins responded in unison.

"Ok...Jenkins...you've got point. Be careful!" Carrie admonished. "Don't get so far out that the lieutenant and I can't support you."

"Yes, Ma'am." Corporal Jenkins responded as he took the lead.

"C'mon, Kaidan." Carrie urged as a blue aura appeared around her, "Let's go."

"Damn!" Carrie cursed under her breath as she noticed Jenkins had wandered far out ahead of her and her fellow biotic. "I warned him not to get too far ahead!" Carrie then heard the whine of weapons fire and then her heart stopped as she saw Jenkins cut down in front of her.

"Geth!" Kaidan cried out as he punched his omnitool releasing a charge that overloaded one of the Geth recon drones.

Rolling as a burst of fire hit her former position, Carrie let loose a warp that temporarily stalled the other drone, making it easy pickings for Alenko's pistol.

"I think we got 'em all, Ma'am." Kaidan reported as the pair slowly approached where their fallen squadmate had fallen. Watching as the lieutenant knelt down to remove Jenkins' dogtags and, then, opening the corporal's visor, gently closed his eyes, Carrie sighed, "I promise, Kaidan, he'll get a proper burial later..."

_**Mindoir...several years ago...**_

"_Ashes to ashes...dust to dust..." The words spoken by the Alliance chaplain at the three graves barely registered to Carrie as she stood, watching in silence, unable to even cry anymore as her family was laid to rest._

"_Condolences from a grateful Alliance." An Alliance officer in dress uniform stated in a grave voice as he handed a folded flag to Carrie. Moments later, three volleys of rifle shots rang out, disrupting the peace and tranquility of the forest and then, at the end, the haunting notes of a lone bugle._

_**Eden Prime...now...**_

"...but for now, I need you to stay focused."

"Yes, Ma'am." Kaidan automatically responded, "I'm ready."

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What had started off as a normal, peaceful morning quickly became hell for Ashley Williams and the 212 as the sky over Eden Prime almost literally exploded with Geth raining down like giant balls of hail all around the 212. Nirali was amongst the first to go down—cut down in a hail of plasma fire. Major Forester bought it as he tried to broadcast a warning. Then Green and Nelson went down from rocket fire as they covered the survivors' withdrawal. But it was Baker's death that shocked her the most. The geth had caught him alive—the fool had actually tried to surrender! They stripped him of his armor and then two of the geth troopers had manhandled the struggling and screaming corporal on to a platform. A spike lanced out of the platform, instantly impaling the hapless man who lived long enough to utter one last bloodcurdling scream that caused Ashley to respond with a loud "Oh no!"

The geth troopers, now alerted to Ashley's presence immediately turned towards her. Firing her rifle, Ashley did the only thing she could. She ran. Adrenaline, fueled by fear and panic, kept her on her feet, just ahead of the pursuing geth until she stumbled, tumbling end over end. _I might go down_. Ashley thought grimly as she aimed her assault rifle, _But I'm not going to let those flashlight heads stick me alive with one of those things. If it's my turn, God, please let me come to You as a soldier should and not impaled on a stake._

Hearing screams and the sound of gunfire, Carrie called out, "This way, Kaidan. Hurry!"

"Right behind you!" Alenko replied as the pair sprinted towards the sound of the guns. Arriving, Carrie saw a marine wearing white and red armor on the ground firing her assault rifle at approaching geth troopers. Responding immediately, the blonde biotic threw out a stasis bubble that trapped the geth closest to the marine as Kaidan sent the other geth flying into the remnants of a stone wall. The marine poured fire into the immobilized geth trooper as Carrie followed up her attack with a warp, shattering the geth.

"More approaching from 11 o'clock, Commander!" Kaidan called out.

"Got 'em!" Carrie responded as she threw at a singularity at the advancing geth, trapping them in its field.

"My turn!" Kaidan shouted as a cryoblast launched out from his omnitool."

"Whenever you're ready!" Carrie called out.

Ashley, at once realizing that the adept was shouting at her, responded with a sustained burst of rifle fire aimed at the frozen troopers, her bullets shattering them into pieces that rained down from the singularity. As the field dissipated, a male voice called out, "I'm not picking up any more readings from my scanner."

"Me neither." A female voice responded, "Secure for now."

"Aye, Ma'am." The male acknowledged.

_Officer_. Ashley surmised, coming to attention as her rescuers approached. As the female, wearing the form-fitting light armor of a biotic adept, with an N7 emblazoned on her chest, approached, Ashley introduced herself, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, 212 Combat Group, Second Frontier Division!"

"Lieutenant Commander Carrie Shepard, SSV _Normandy_." The woman replied, then gesturing with her head towards the man standing next to her, she introduced, "Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, also SSV _Normandy_."

"Gunnery Chief." Alenko replied, nodding his head once in the chief's direction.

"Where's the rest of your unit, Chief?" Shepard asked as her eyes scanned the area.

"Gone, Ma'am." Williams replied as bile began to come up in her throat. "I think...I think I'm the only one."

As painful memories of Akuze flashed back into the commander's mind, Carrie, gazing into the gunnery chief's eyes saw the fear and panic rising within the soldier. "It's not your fault, Williams. No one's blaming you." Carrie said in a calm, soothing voice. "I need you to hold it together...can you do that for me?"

Gathering herself together, Williams straightened her back as she responded, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good." Carrie smiled, even though she realized that her facial expressions were hidden by her helmet's breather. "Now, can you tell me what happened?"

"We were on perimeter patrol...protecting the dig site while the Two-Three-Two was in charge of looking after the scientists." Ashley narrated, "It was supposed to be a routine patrol...we were going to be rotated out in a day or two..."

"Focus, Gunny...I need you to keep it together." Shepard gently prompted, "You were on patrol. Did you get any warning before the geth hit?"

"No Ma'am." Ashley shook her head. "We were on patrol and everything was quiet." The chief muffled a sob before continuing, "Then...BOOM! The geth dropped on top of us like nothing I've ever seen. We never had a chance. They wiped most of us out in the first wave. Those of us who survived that first attack tried to pull back...form a defensive line...but they broke through that fast. There just weren't enough of us and they kept on coming. Baker tried to surrender..." Ashley cried, "They did that..." She pointed at her fellow trooper impaled on a stake, "...to him. While he was still alive! What sort of monsters do that."

"Psychological warfare." Kaidan responded in a flat clinical and analytical voice, "They're trying to demoralize any surviving resistance."

Turning her head towards Lieutenant Alenko, Carrie gently shook her head. Kaidan, picking up on the hint, quickly fell silent. Speaking quickly so as to not allow her lieutenant's ill-chosen words to sink in, Carrie asked, maintaining a gentle, soothing voice, "Did you or anyone from your unit spot a turian near here?"

"Turian?" A surprised Ashley exclaimed, "What would a turian be doing here?"

"His name's Nihlus." Kaidan explained, "He's a Council Spectre. He jumped with us and is scouting just ahead of us. You'd know him if you saw him. He carries enough firepower to take out a platoon."

"No, Ma'am." Ashley responded, "No turians that I'm aware of."

"Do you think any of the scientists survived?" Carrie then asked.

"I don't know, Ma'am. Maybe." The chief answered, "The Two-Three-Two might have come out of it better than my unit. If there are any survivors, we'll find them over there..." She pointed, "Just beyond the dig site."

"Right." Carrie nodded her head, "Lieutenant...there's our next stop. Williams? We could use your help if you're up for it?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Ashley quickly responded as she checked her Lancer, "Time for some payback."

On hearing Ashley's final words, Carrie turning her head towards Kaidan, subtly gestured with her eyes and head in the direction of the gunnery chief. Kaidan, picking up at once on his commander's non-verbal cues, nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement. Satisfied that her subordinate understood her unspoken command to keep an eye on their new recruit, Shepard ordered, "All right. Let's move out."

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Another skirmish with the geth saw the three humans quickly developing team techniques in their fight: Carrie would immobilize the most threatening geth with a stasis bubble and then singularity the others as Kaidan hit them with both biotics and tech while Ashley poured on the firepower. The squad finally reached the dig site where they found more members of the 212, along with some civilians, all impaled on the strange geth stakes. Fighting the rising nausea coming from her own stomach, Shepard turned to her squad. "Looks like they've moved the beacon."

"They might have taken it to the spaceport." Ashley suggested as Nihlus's voice came through their comms.

"Moving on to the spaceport...I'll meet you there."

"Well...we know where Nihlus is going at least." Kaidan remarked.

"We better be heading that way ourselves." Shepard ordered.

"The scientists' camp's on the way." Ashley pointed out. "We might be able to find survivors there."

"Great." Carrie replied, "Lead on, Gunny."

Reaching the scientist's encampment, Shepard and her squad found two prefab buildings and, unfortunately, more impaled victims. "Careful, Commander." Kaidan cautioned, "Something smells wrong here."

"Copy that, LT." Carrie replied, "Let's take it slow and easy, people."

As the squad advanced, the spikes began to retract, releasing their impaled victims who had now taken on a sinister cast—part walking dead...part cybernetic.

"What the..." Ashley gasped as Carrie shouted.

"Fire!"

Ashley fired her assault rifle as Kaidan tossed biotic throws at the creatures while Carrie launched a singularity at them, following it up with a quick warp. As the last of the monsters fell, the gunnery chief gasped, "What were those things? They were like zombies."

"Not zombies." Kaidan muttered, "More like husks."

"It appears that those impaling sticks do something that turns their victims into these...husks." Carrie concluded. "There are probably more, so watch yourselves. Chief?" The commander then turned towards Williams, "Think any of the scientists might have managed to hide in one of those prefabs?"

"I don't know." Ashley replied, "Maybe this one." She pointed, "It's locked."

"Kaidan?" Carrie gestured with her head. Nodding his head in response, the lieutenant quickly opened the door to reveal two scientists. "Thank the Maker!" The female scientist gasped. "You're human!"

"Commander Shepard, SSV _Normandy_," Carrie introduced herself.

"I'm Doctor Warren..." The woman introduced herself, "And this is Manuel..."

Upon mention of his name, the male scientist began to ramble incoherently, and then, when Carrie asked about Nihlus, Manuel once again interrupted, babbling about the prophet and the end of everything. After Doctor Warren had settled her colleague down, she returned to the three marines and confirmed that the beacon had been moved to the spaceport.

"Thanks, Dr. Warren." Carrie acknowledged, further advising, "Relief forces should be getting here soon, but until they do. Stay hidden and keep quiet."

"Yes, Commander." The archaeologist replied, "Good luck and...thank you."

"Williams?" Shepard commanded, turning to the gunnery chief, "Take us to the spaceport."

"Yes, Ma'am."

As they advanced up the road to the spaceport, the three marines cringed on hearing a loud, almost earth shattering noise. Then, three hearts froze as a giant spacecraft slowly ascended into the blood red, smoky sky. Resembling, more than anything else, a cuttlefish or squid, it towered over everything in the area.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ashley whispered.

"It must be over two kilometers tall!" Kaidan gasped unbelievingly as it continued its ascent to the stars.

"Whatever it is..." Shepard replied, "It's going away now. Let's keep going."

"Right." Kaidan nodded his head as the group approached the outskirts to the spaceport where once again they got the opportunity to hone their team fighting skills, this time against a combination of geth and husks. As the last of the geth fell, Carrie gestured towards a locked prefab. "Kaidan...looks like we might have more survivors."

"I'll check." The lieutenant replied as he easily cracked the door's lock, revealing a small group of frightened civilians who declared that they were farmers seeking refuge. Carrie had bought their story and was about to leave until one of them slipped up, revealing that they had come into the possession of weapons.

"Ma'am." Ashley interjected as her rifle covered the civilians, "Major Forester told me before the attack that he suspected the existence of a smuggling ring here."

"Is that so?" Carrie confronted the apparent leader of the civilians, a jittery man.

"It's just a few weapons...nothing serious." The man stammered.

"Nothing serious!" An outraged Ashley exclaimed, "My entire unit got wiped out. That stuff you stole might have saved a few lives! I oughta..."

"Cool it, Gunny." Shepard commanded. Turning to the civilian, Carrie ordered, "The stuff...my hand...NOW."

"Yes, Ma'am." The man stammered, "We don't want any trouble."

"Who's your inside man at the spaceport?" Shepard queried. Angered at the man's efforts to evade answering, Carrie turned to Williams, "Chief? Would you like a little alone time with this man behind the prefab."

Her lips turning up into an evil grin, Ashley responded as she cracked her knuckles, "Yes, Ma'am."

Seeing the scary marine approaching him, the man quickly shouted, "Powell! His name's Powell!"

"Thank you." Carrie responded with more than a note of sarcasm in her voice. "C'mon, Chief, LT...we've got work to do."

As the squad advanced into what was apparently a cargo area of the spaceport, they found a turian body lying on the deck. Investigating, Kaiden shook his head, "Nihlus. Shot in the back of the head. He probably never knew what hit him."

"He didn't."

Swiveling quickly at the sound of the voice, all Kaidan and Ashley both had their guns drawn as Carrie's hand glowed blue, crackling with biotic energy.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" The man cried out as he raised his hands high above his head. "I didn't do it, but I saw who did."

"Who did it?" Carrie demanded in a crisp voice as she maintained the charge in her hand.

"The other turian." The man replied.

"Other turian?" Kaidan interjected.

"Yeah." The man answered back as Carrie slowly released the stored biotic energy in her hand. "The two of them must have known each other. The one on the ground turned his back. That's when the other one killed him. One shot...one kill."

"Where's this other turian and where's the beacon?" Carrie asked.

"He took the beacon and went to the other side of the port. You can take the tram and catch him if you're fast enough." The worker urged.

"Right." Carrie declared, "Let's..."

"You're Powell, aren't you?" Ashley interrupted. Seeing the commander turn towards her, the chief quickly apologized, "Sorry, Ma'am, but I think this is Powell, the smuggling ring's contact here."

Turning her attention back to the now cringing dock worker, Carrie glared at the man, "Is that true? Is your name Powell—and don't even think of lying to me, 'cause I will find out."

"Yeah, I'm Powell." The man replied, managing a faint note of defiance, "And yeah, I was part of the smuggling ring. What difference does it make now? Everything and everyone's gone!"

"You son of a..." Ashley swore as she pointed her shotgun square at the man's chest. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pull this trigger and blow your sorry ass all across this spaceport."

"I'll give you a reason." Carrie interjected as her gaze turned to Powell, "He's going to give us everything he stole...and I do mean everything. Right Powell?" Seeing that the man still wasn't completely cowed, Carrie added, "You're going to do it for two reasons Powell. First, to make it up to those marines who fought and died for you here today. And second, if the first reason isn't good enough for you, because giving those goodies up will be the only thing that will keep my gunnery chief from decorating the spaceport here with your body parts. So...what's it gonna be? The goodies or Powell al fresco?"

"Here." Powell said as he handed over an assortment of grenades and mods. "These are top of the line stuff...experimental. I'd planned on selling them to a krogan contact of mine...but..."

"Good boy, Powell." Carrie replied as she gave the grenades and mod to Ashley who then promptly loaded them into her grenade launcher. "Now...I want you to turn around and put your hands behind your back." Taking a restraining tie, Carrie tied the smuggler's hands behind his back. "LT...take him to where he was napping earlier. If the geth didn't catch him there before, they probably won't catch him there now. Don't worry, Powell..." Shepard smiled as she turned her attention back to the hapless smuggler, "If you stay where you are and don't make too much of a racket, you should be safe until someone comes by and picks you up." Turning to Ashley after the lieutenant had returned from dropping Powell off, Carrie exclaimed, "All right, everyone. Let's go—we've got a tram to catch."

"You know..." Ashley whispered to Kaidan as Shepard led the way, "To be honest, at first I wasn't too sure about her, but now, after watching how she handled Powell, I think she's ok."

Chuckling, Kaidan replied, "Wait until you see her in front of a camera."

"Huh?" Ashley vocalized as Carrie shouted.

"Any time, kiddies!"

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"Damn!" Carrie paused at the tram controls to catch her breath as Kaidan quickly applied medigel first to Ashley and then to her, and finally to himself. "That was one helluva fight." Looking at her pistol with distaste, Carrie quickly holstered the weapon. "I actually had to use my gun."

"Wait a minute." Ashley interjected, "You're a marine—and an N7—and you don't like to use your pistol."

"No." Carrie replied with a shake of her head, "I hate guns. There's no artistry...no poetry to them. I prefer using my powers. Using biotics on the battlefield is like painting or posing or composing a symphony—the way the different powers interact with each other and with tech is as much a creative exercise as it is a destructive one. But at the same time, I'm smart enough to know that sometimes I don't have a choice, so it's better to have one than not."

Receiving only a shrug of the shoulders in response from the lieutenant, Ashley replied, "I guess I understand that—some of it at least—I'm not sure about the whole biotic artistry part. But still, I feel naked if I'm not toting around an arsenal in the field."

Activating the tram, Carrie quipped, "That's why you're here—to blow the stuff away me or Kaidan don't catch." In a more serious voice, she further added, "That's also why you're important here. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you, Ashley and I'm going to make sure Captain Anderson knows it."

"Thank you, Ma'am." The chief replied as the tram glided to a stop. As Shepard stepped off the tram, she heard Kaidan's shout.

"Bomb!"

"Kaidan!" Shepard called out.

"On it!" The sentinel promptly replied as he moved quickly to deactivate the device. Glancing down at his sensor, Alenko reported, "I'm picking up three more signatures."

"Right." Carrie ordered, "Kaidan—you turn 'em off. Ash and I have your six."

"Right, Boss." The lieutenant acknowledged as the trio rushed to carry out their mission. After yet another running battle with the geth, Kaidan sighed with relief as he got up from the last bomb, "That's it. Got 'em all."

"There are a few geth and some husks around the beacon." Ashley, scouting ahead, reported. "Nothing we can't handle."

"All right." Carrie ordered, "Let's take 'em out...get that beacon...and then get our butts back to the _Normandy_.

"Sounds good to me." Kaidan remarked as the trio once again went into battle.

Taking down the final geth trooper with a shot to its head, Ashley called out to the others, "That's the last of 'em."

"Great." Carrie replied as Kaidan nodded his head, indicating that there were no more threats on his sensors. "Secure and let's get what we came for."

"Damn." Kaidan swore under his breath as he witnessed the destruction caused by the giant ship that had taken off earlier. "That thing must have landed here."

"Looks like the whole area got hit by a nuke." Ashley gasped in horror.

"That must be the beacon." Carrie remarked, pointing towards the gently glowing spire.

Drawn to the strange object, Kaidan drew closer to the beacon until it suddenly activated, trapping him in its grasp. Seeing her comrade caught by the beacon, Carrie nudged Ashley out of the way as she rushed forward, knocking Kaidan down and away. However, in the process of doing that, Shepard herself ended up trapped by the beacon. Images flashed through her mind. Strange alien races fighting...dying...in the billions...the trillions. Entire worlds destroyed. Light...and then...darkness.

"Shepard!" Ashley called out as she and Kaidan rushed to her side.

"Joker!" Alenko radioed, "_Normandy_. We need a pickup immediately. Carr...Commander Shepard is down!"

_**A/N: **__Again, my thanks to everyone who is reading, favoriting, following, and especially reviewing, this story. Meren: Thank you for your kind words. I do intend to follow general canon as much as possible. I will be tinkering with some elements, but I want to keep to what happens as much as I can. Jules: Thanks also and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Carrie does indeed enjoy being a woman and doesn't hide her femininity—she embraces it. But also, as you've seen here, she can be tough when she has to be. Aviaal: Thanks for catching my goof. I did in fact originally post the wrong chapter for chapter 4—I had to hurry to drop my mother off at her adult daycare and then get off to work so I was rushed and slipped up. Thanks again for the catch!_

_I think this is the longest chapter I've done yet in this particular story, but I wanted to get all of Eden Prime done in one go. I also enjoyed writing Ashley here. I think she's a character that's much maligned—unfairly so, I believe. If you take the time to really get to know her, she's not that bad. She's no religious zealot who's out to forcibly convert the universe—she has her beliefs, but she doesn't force them on others. She does have problems initially dealing with aliens, but that's really more due to ignorance and family history than malice. Prejudice born of ignorance can be overcome with knowledge; bigotry born of malice is a much harder cancer to excise because that takes a fundamental reevaluation of one's soul—a very difficult thing for most of us to do. Ashley's prejudice is due to ignorance and she does start to grow out of it by the end of ME1—if you take the paragon path in dealing with her._

_Again, I hope everyone enjoys this part—it was fun for me to write and have a good weekend!_


	6. Chapter 6: Intermezzo

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter 6

Captain Anderson saluted as a holographic image of Admiral Hackett appeared in the comm room. "Sir."

"How's Shepard, Captain?" The admiral asked with a note of concern in his voice.

"Doctor Chakwas thinks she'll make a complete recovery, Sir." Anderson reported, "She's resting now, but she should be waking up soon."

"Good...good." Hackett nodded his head, "And the beacon?"

"Useless." Anderson shook his head, "It hasn't worked since it did whatever it did to Shepard."

"I see." The admiral stroked his chin, "Are you sure that it was Saren who killed Nihlus?"

"It has to be, Sir." The captain grimly replied, "The dockworker's description fits."

"Mighty slim evidence to bring before the Council." Hackett noted, "Odds are they'll reject it out of hand."

"Maybe Shepard will have more to add when she wakes up." Anderson suggested.

"I hope so." Hackett replied, adding, "When she's up and able, get her report and submit it along with yours and the eyewitness testimony and I'll forward everything to Ambassador Udina. He should have enough time to digest it all before you arrive on the Citadel. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, Sir." Anderson took a deep breath before continuing, "I think Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams has earned a spot on the _Normandy's_ duty roster due to her performance on Eden Prime."

"I see." A slight grin crossed Hackett's face as he nodded his head once, "Send the paperwork to me and I'll be happy to sign off on it." His smile vanishing, the admiral concluded, "The Williams family has been punished enough. The General didn't deserve what he got and his family most definitely hasn't deserved it. Williams' father served in my command once. One of the hardest working and most conscientious men I've ever had the pleasure to command. He never complained...never had a bad word for the Alliance or for those who kept him down. I tried and tried to get him promoted to chief—every time, my request was turned down. As far as I'm concerned, it's past time to end this persecution of the Williams family."

"Thank you, Sir." Captain Anderson saluted as Hackett terminated the connection. Speaking into his link, the captain ordered, "Have Staff Lieutenant Alenko report to my cabin immediately."

"I think that's an excellent idea, Sir." Kaidan smiled enthusiastically as Captain Anderson informed him about his intentions regarding adding Chief Williams to the _Normandy_ crew. "I'm sure Car...Commander Shepard...would agree."

"I'm glad you see that way." Anderson smiled back, "I'll let you give the Chief the good news. Also, Shepard should be up pretty soon. I think she might appreciate seeing you there when she awakens."

"Yes, Sir." Alenko replied, "Thank you, Sir."

"Dismissed."

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Ashley set down her tray with its chicken salad sandwich and powdered milk and held back a sigh. Last night at this time, she was eating Nirali's curry and laughing and talking about what they were going to do on leave. Now, Nirali Bhatia lay dead on Eden Prime, one of the first victims of the Geth attack. The rest of her unit: Major Forester, the CO who always treated her right, even though she was the granddaughter of Wimpy Williams, Nelson and Green, and even the slacker, Baker, were all dead—or worse—turned into those husk things. _It's not right. I shouldn't be here now...alive...I should be with them._

"_It's not your fault, Williams."_ Ashley looked up to see the dark haired N7 from her dream looking at her.

"Uh...wha..."

"You ok, Chief?" Looking up, Ashley saw Lieutenant Alenko standing in front of her, his face etched with concern. The phantom she thought she'd seen earlier having vanished as rapidly as it appeared.

"Huh? Oh...Lieutenant..." Ashley stammered, "Yeah, I'm fine. What can I do for you?"

"Mind if I join you?" Kaidan asked as he gestured at the seat in front of the chief.

"No...not at all." Ashley again stammered, not used to officers and noncommissioned officers sitting together in the galley.

Sensing the chief's discomfort, Kaidan smiled, "The _Normandy'_s a small ship. That means everything's tight—including galley space. We tend to dispense with a lot of the formalities that you would see on a bigger ship or on a groundside posting."

"I see...I guess..." Ashley responded as she picked at her chicken sandwich.

"Well...you're going to have to get used to it, Chief." Kaidan again smiled, "Captain Anderson just put in a request for you to be permanently assigned to the _Normandy_ and Admiral Hackett has already approved. So...welcome aboard. You're now the _Normandy's _armory chief." On hearing the news, Ashley nearly choked on her milk. "You alright, Chief?" Kaidan asked as he looked on with a mixture of amusement and concern at his new armory chief.

"I'll be all right, Sir." Ashley replied as she wiped the spilled milk off her top. "It's just...this isn't a joke, is it?"

"Of course not, Chief." Kaidan replied, all traces of amusement gone from his face, "Why would you think that?"

"Oh...no reason, Sir." Ashley quickly responded, "It's just that I've been trying and trying to get a shipboard posting and...now...all of a sudden..."

"You earned it, Chief." Alenko declared, "You did damn good work down there. Without you, me and Shepard wouldn't have gotten through—or it would have been a helluva lot rougher and we would have been a lot more banged up."

"Thank you, Sir." Ashley stammered, "I still feel bad about Jenkins...I wouldn't be assigned here if..."

"Don't say that, Chief." Kaidan shook his head, "Jenkins' death wasn't your fault and it wasn't Shepard's. I was there when it happened. And you're not taking his spot on the roster. I have a feeling that you'd still find your way on to the _Normandy_ even had Jenkins not been killed—so don't go blaming yourself, all right."

"Yes, Sir." The faintest traces of a grin began to appear on Ashley as the lieutenant gave the Chief her first orders as the new armory chief.

"All right, Chief." Kaidan smiled, "One of the most important duties you're going to have as armory chief is not an official duty."

"Sir?" Ashley asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's more a personal favor to me...and the Captain." Kaidan quickly added. "As you saw on the surface, Carr...Commander Shepard does not like to use her sidearm. Now, you generally don't have to worry about her carrying if we're going into a combat situation. Like she said, she's smart enough to know that she needs to carry a weapon in those circumstances. It's the other...more gray...situations I'm concerned about—like Omega or Ilium or some of the lower wards in the Citadel—places where you don't have to worry about finding trouble because trouble finds you. Try to get her to carry at least a concealable hold-out pistol in those cases—to be honest, that's probably the best you're going to be able to do. "

"Aye, Sir." Ashley nodded her head, "I'll try, but what if she pulls rank?"

"Don't force the issue." Kaidan chuckled, "If you think the situation is one where she should be armed, get me or the Captain...we can generally talk her around."

"Understood, Sir." Ashley smiled, this time a much wider grin, before tentatively questioning, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir, what did the commander mean by using biotics in combat as being a form of art...not being a biotic I couldn't really understand..."

"To be honest..." Kaidan laughed, "I'm not sure myself and I am a biotic. But then I'm not the artsy fash..."

"Lieutenant!" Captain Anderson called out from the entry the medbay's entrance, "Shepard's waking up now."

"Thank you, Sir." Kaidan replied as he rose to his feet. "We'll continue this discussion later, Chief."

"Sir." Ashley acknowledged as she contemplated her sudden change in fortune. However, that nagging voice in the back of her skull that kept saying, _You don't deserve this_, still spoke to her, refusing to let go.

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Kaidan sighed in relief as he saw Carrie sitting up on the exam table with Dr. Chakwas and Captain Anderson hovering over her, resembling, more than anything else to the lieutenant's eyes, a pair of fussy parents worried over their daughter catching a bug.

"So, how's our patient, Doctor?" Captain Anderson asked with a paternal smile on his face.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Chakwas grinned back.

"How are you feeling, Carrie?" Anderson asked.

"Kind of like being stuck in an all-day lingerie photoshoot on Omega with a hanar director and a krogan photographer." Carrie managed a weak laugh.

"Good to see your sense of humor's returned." Kaidan interjected.

"Hey, Kaidan." Carrie weakly smiled back, "I hear I owe you thanks for dragging my butt back to the _Normandy_."

"Well..." Kaidan blushed slightly, "Chief Williams helped, and, it was the least I could do...seeing that I was the one that put you in...whatever it was you got caught up in."

"Don't go blaming yourself, Kaidan." Carrie chuckled, "You couldn't have known what was going to happen. Besides, you know I can never pass up a chance to get into the spotlight."

"Thanks, Carrie." Kaidan said as his lips again turned up in a smile.

"Dr. Chakwas reported that you were murmuring in your sleep while you were unconscious...was it from the beacon?" Anderson asked.

"Yeah." Carrie nodded her head once, "I saw...oh God, Captain...I saw people dying everywhere. Buildings tumbling to the ground, fighting...a war...I think between living beings and machines—and the machines were winning. It was...I really can't describe it...everything is just jumbled together."

"I'd better include this in my report." Chakwas noted.

"I guess it's back to being Crazy Carrie the Spaced Out Supermodel." Carrie shook her head.

"No." Anderson smiled down on his protégé. "You don't get off the hook that easy, Shepard. You're still my executive officer."

"So..." The blonde XO asked, changing the subject, "What happened with Chief Williams? She back on Eden Prime?"

"No." Captain Anderson replied, further explaining, "I've decided to add her to the _Normandy's_ roster."

"Good!" Carrie smiled as she nodded her head approvingly. "As far as I'm concerned, she proved herself on Eden Prime. She's more than earned a spot on the roster here."

"Lieutenant Alenko over here agrees." Anderson smiled as Kaidan also smiled.

"I've made her our new armory chief—if that's ok with you." Kaidan added.

"Sounds good to me." Carrie smiled back, "The marines are under your command anyway." Pausing for a moment, Carrie sounded a cautionary note, "I am concerned about one thing though..."

"What?" Anderson asked.

"Survivor's guilt." Carrie quickly responded. "Chief Williams saw her entire unit wiped out in front of her. That affects you—believe me, I know. Do you think she's ready to handle immediate reassignment?"

Turning his gaze on Chakwas, Anderson raised an eyebrow as he inquired, "Doctor?"

"Shepard brings up a valid point." Chakwas acknowledged, "I'm not a psychologist by training, but I have seen more than my share of PTSD. I would say that she is feeling some signs of it, and would recommend that she be given time to decompress and process what happened."

"Well, we aren't slated for immediate reassignment." Anderson noted, "A lengthy shore leave period on the Citadel should also help."

"We don't want her brooding by herself." Carrie warned, "But by the same token, we don't want to crowd her either."

"If I might ask." Kaidan tentatively interrupted, "How did you process everything that happened to you, Commander? Mindoir...Akuze..."

"In other words, why am I still sane?" Carrie chuckled, "Who says I've completely processed everything? I still have sleepless nights and bad dreams." The blonde model confessed, "More than anything else, what's allowed me to keep what's left of my sanity intact are my friends. Asryna...Laura...You...Captain Anderson...you all ground me. If Williams is going to get through this, she's going to need friends."

"Well..." Kaidan vowed, "She's got a shipload of 'em here."

"That she does." Carrie agreed, "Still...it's not going to be easy for her."

"Speaking of Chief Williams," Captain Anderson interjected, "Why don't you get her better acquainted with the _Normandy _and her new duties, Lieutenant Alenko, while I speak privately with our XO."

"Sir." Kaidan acknowledged.

As the lieutenant turned to leave, Dr. Chakwas also made her excuses, "I'll be outside if you need me, Captain."

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"So...what now, Captain?" Carrie asked, "Have you picked up any leads on who our mystery turian might be."

"I already know." Anderson responded, "His name is Saren Arturius, a Spectre."

"A Spectre?" Carrie exclaimed, "Are you sure...and I mean dead to rights sure?"

"Yes." The Captain grimly responded, "It fits his MO

"How so?" Shepard asked, her facial expression betraying her skepticism.

"He likes to cause the maximum amount of destruction possible and it also fits with his politics. He hates humans."

"So..." Carrie shrugged her shoulders, "Tell him the line forms at the rear. How does that prove that he killed Nihlus and orchestrated the attack?"

"The eyewitness testimony of that dockworker describes Saren to a T." Anderson answered back defensively, "Plus...we have your visions."

"Captain..." Carrie said in a soft, placating voice as she looked into Captain Anderson's eyes, seeing in those eyes hurt, anger, and, most disturbing to the young commander, a burning desire for revenge. "The Council will never take the word of a dockworker over that of their favorite pet Spectre and if you bring up what I saw in that beacon, they'll laugh us both out of the Council chambers."

"Then we have to get hard evidence." Anderson declared, "Something that will make the Council take action. But first..." He concluded, "We have to get to the Citadel." Taking a breath, the captain ordered, "Tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel."

"Aye, Captain." Shepard responded, waiting until her mentor had safely left the room before shaking her head and exhaling, "This is going to be a show to take all shows."

Returning to her medbay, Dr. Chakwas smiled, "You're free to go, Commander."

"Thanks, Doc." Carrie responded, then frowned as she saw her reflection in the mirror. "Yuck!"

"Here you go." Karin smirked as she tossed Carrie's portable makeup kit to her. "Figured you'd want to touch yourself up before going out to meet the troops."

"Thanks, Doc." Carrie smiled as she began to primp, "You're a lifesaver."

After completing her primping and touching up, Carrie exited the medbay, at once spotting Kaidan and Ashley sitting in the galley. "Hey!" She called out to her two fellow squad members. "I see the two of you are getting better acquainted."

"Hey, Commander!" Kaidan called back, waving his arm, gesturing for the XO to join them. "C'mon over. I just finished giving Chief Williams the grand tour."

"Can't stay long." Carrie replied as she made her way to where her two fellow marines were sitting, "Have to give Joker his marching orders—we're Citadel bound."

Turning her attention to Ashley, Carrie inquired, her lips turning up in a brilliant smile, "So…what do you think of our little hotrod?"

"It's amazing Ma'am." Ashley responded as she took in the appearance of the woman standing before her—stylishly cut blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, pearly white teeth, and perfectly applied makeup. _I've seen her somewhere…I know I have!_ The Chief thought as her reverie was broken by Carrie's cheerful words.

"Hello? _Normandy_ to Chief Williams!"

"Oh…I'm sorry Ma'am." A red-faced Ashley responded, "It's an amazing ship. I feel honored to be assigned to her, but, Ma'am…I feel like I don't deserve it. I don't…it doesn't…"

"Hey." Carrie interrupted in a soft, gentle voice, "You deserve this. You've earned your posting here. And you're not taking Jenkins' place and you're not responsible for what happened to him. If anyone is…" She finished somberly, "…it's me."

"Commander…" Kaidan gently chided, "We've talked about this…"

"I know." Carrie said with a sad smile. "Just give me a couple of days to kick myself in the butt and I'll be ok—all right."

"Ok, Carrie." Kaidan responded, using the commander's first name, "But I'm going to hold you to that couple of days."

"Deal." Shepard smiled back, "Now, if you two want to join me, I'm headed up to Joker's hole to tell him to make for the Citadel. We've got politicians to play with. You know…" Her lips turned up in a wicked grin, "I'd almost rather be doing a shoot for _Fornax_. At least after that I could clean off the filth with a shower. I don't think they've made a bath soap yet that can clean off politician grime."

_Now I remember!_ Everything suddenly clicked for Ashley as she, the commander, and Alenko walked down the corridor together, "You're the marine in that perfume commercial!" She blurted out as the tiny group reached the CIC, receiving in response snickers from some of the specialists and officers at their posts and a red face from Presley.

"Yep." Carrie acknowledged with a lopsided grin, "That's me. Which version did you see?"

"You mean there's more than one?" A surprised Ashley responded as Carrie chuckled.

"Yeah. There's the one with me and Asryna—an asari…"

"That's the one I saw." Ashley interjected.

"They like to play that one to mixed audiences—it works well with both asari and human. There are other ones where it's Asryna who answers the door and the person there is a human male or a turian or salarian. Sometimes even a krogan or a hanar…although if you ask me, that's kinda weird, but some people get into jelly and tentacles."

Ashley tried to keep up with the blonde woman's words. _Damn…she's worse than my sisters gossiping about boys and outfits. _The tough marine thought to herself as she smiled agreeably while the commander continued to gab.

"There's also another one they play for human audiences…" Carrie expounded, obviously enjoying the topic of conversation, "…where I answer the door and a cute guy—kinda looks like Kaidan actually…" The commander teased, giving the embarrassed lieutenant a playful wink, "…meets me."

"They don't do one with two asari?" Ashley asked, curious in spite of herself.

"Oh, no!" Carrie vigorously shook her head, "That's a big no-no with the asari. That's what makes _Vaenia _as hot as it is for them—forbidden fruit and all."

"Why?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to hear that, myself." Kaidan interjected.

"Another time." Carrie replied as they reached the pilot's station, "It'll take too long to explain and you guys have let me run my motormouth on long enough."

"Hey, Commander." Joker called out, "What's up?"

"Take us to the Citadel, Joker." Carrie commanded, "And don't spare the horses."

"All right!" The cocky flight lieutenant replied, "We're on our way!"

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_**A/N: **__Thanks again to everyone for reading and reviewing, I really do appreciate your comments. I'm finding that I'm enjoying writing both Ashley and Kaidan—they're both great characters. Next part: Carrie deals with politicians and renews acquaintances with two old friends and meets a new friend…and in the process manages to work in a bit of time for shopping and all…_

_PS: Minor spoiler—I am planning a future bit where Garrus and Kaidan get to play pack mules when the girls go shopping…_


	7. Chapter 7: Stumble, Fumble, and Bumble

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter 7

_**A/N:**__ Greetings everyone and again, I want to thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. Carrie really is fun to write. I had to use some canon game dialogue here, but I also changed things around a bit as you'll see later on. You'll also get a good dose of Carrie's irreverence here. So…have fun._

"Ok, Kaidan and Ashley, I want you both at the airlock in one hour in your class-As." Carrie ordered as the _Normandy_ slid into its berth on the Citadel.

"Class-As!" Ashley whined dramatically, "Mine are still on Eden Prime."

"You're not getting out of it that easy, Chief." Carrie smirked, "The quartermaster will issue you new uniforms.

"Yes, Ma'am." A subdued Chief Williams responded.

"Ok, you two—scoot!" Carrie ordered, chuckling as her two teammates moved rapidly to follow her command.

"Looks like you got them trained well." Joker observed with a smirk.

"Now all I have to do is break in a certain know-it-all flight lieutenant." Carrie quipped back.

"Yeah…well, good luck with that." Joker chuckled as Carrie departed the cockpit.

As she neared her quarters, Carrie turned about as she heard her name called out, "Shepard?"

"Captain?" Carrie respectfully replied.

"I'll meet you, Alenko, and Williams at the Ambassador's receptionist's desk in an hour and a half. I know I don't have to worry about you, but make sure that Williams and Alenko are dressed appropriately."

"Already seen to, Sir." Carrie responded with a smile. I sent Williams to the quartermaster to get new uniforms and told her and Alenko to meet me in an hour in their Class As."

"Very good." Anderson responded, pleased. "I'll let you get to it, then."

An hour later, as Chief Williams and Lieutenant Alenko, both now wearing their dress blue Alliance uniforms with their ranks in gold—one gold strip in the case of Alenko, and three gold chevrons with a rocker for the gunnery chief, they had found that Carrie was already there waiting on them. ":You're actually wearing that skirt and those pumps!" Ashley shook her head in surprise. "I didn't think anyone except for a few yeomen and desk jockeys chose that uniform option."

"I like wearing a skirt and heels, so sue me." Carrie replied with a shrug. "Let's get going, we need to get to the embassy and hopefully get the Council to do something about Saren."

"Do you think the Council will act?" Kaidan inquired as the three Alliance marines walked through the connecting tube and on to the Citadel.

"Honestly?" Carrie answered, shaking her head as they approached a skycar taxi, "No."

"About what I expected." Ashley grumbled, "We're not going to get anything from the aliens."

"Us being human doesn't have anything to do with it." Carrie countered, then, seeing the look on both Ashley's and Kaidan's faces, she amended, "Well…not a whole lot. Look…what do we have?" She then ticked off their evidence with her fingers, "One: We have physical evidence of the geth. All right, the geth attacked—serious, but doesn't mean Saren's involved. Two: We have the destroyed beacon—which broke after I used it. Again, no evidence that Saren did anything, but a great piece of evidence if you want to mess me up. Three: We have Powell's testimony—the same guy who ran a smuggling ring and whom we've found out has been involved in some other shady stuff." Carrie shook her head, "Great witness there. Finally…" She said, "We have what they will rightly call Crazy Carrie's Kooky dreams which I hope…really REALLY hope…Anderson doesn't bring up. Now, if you were the Council and someone brought all that to you, what would be your reaction?"

As the skycar whizzed over the Presidium towards its destination, Ashley thought about the commander's words, "I guess I see what you mean, Ma'am." Shaking her head, the gunnery chief muttered as the skycar came to a stop in front of the Embassy front, "We're screwed."

As they made their way out of the skycar and towards the receptionist's desk, Carrie muttered under her breath, "Yup." Reaching the receptionist, the blonde model flashed her most brilliant smile, "Hi! Carrie Shepard. I believe Ambassador Udina is expecting us?"

"Yes he is, Commander." The receptionist smiled back, "Right and then second door on the right."

"Thank you." Carrie grinned, but before she could leave, the receptionist called out to her, Ma'am? Commander Shepard?"

"Yes." The commander smiled.

"I need you to sign the register, please." The receptionist asked as she held out a fresh sign-in sheet and pen.

"Sure." Carrie replied with a knowing wink as she signed her name. making sure to dot the I with a heart and adding a flourish at the ending d. "Here you go."

"Thank you." The receptionist smiled back and waited until Shepard and her human companions had left before activating her omnitool, "Nelyna? I got it! I got Carrie Shepard's autograph!"

"You did, Saphyra?" The receptionist to the consort replied, 'What was she like?"

"Nice." Saphyra answered her sister, "Not at all like many of the humans who come by here. She smiled and asked how I was doing and we talked for a bit and then she signed a blank page in the guest book and left."

"Was she wearing Asura's Breath?" Nelyna asked.

"Yeah." Saphyra responded with a sigh, "I got just enough of a whiff of it to turn me on."

"Oooohhh…you are so lucky! Maybe she'll come by here and I can show her what I can do with my fingers…"

"Keep hoping, Little Sister." Saphyra laughed. "Well…I better go now. Apollo's for lunch?"

"I'll be there."

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Entering the ambassador's chambers, Captain Anderson and his team quickly spotted Ambassador Donnel Udina engaged in heated debate with holographic images of the Council. As the ambassador and the members of the Council traded barbs at each other, much to Ashley's surprise and amazement, Carrie took her compact out of her purse and began to gussy up.

"What the hell are you doing, Ma'am?" Ashley whispered as the politicians bickered.

"Too much eye shadow, Gunnery Chief?" Carrie asked with a smirk as she looked in the compact's mirror. "Nah…just right."

"The turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador!"

Carrie then began touching up her lipstick as the Turian Councilor berated the Earth Ambassador, "You don't get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador."

Upon hearing the Asari Councilor telling the Ambassador that C-Sec was in the process of investigating Saren, Carrie carefully daubed off any excess lipstick with a tissue before whispering to her cohorts, "What she's really saying is that they're doing the best they can to cover it up so why don't you be a good little boy and sit in the corner and shut up."

As the holographic images faded away, Udina turned his attention to his guests, "Captain Anderson, I see that you've come with most of your crew."

"Just the landing party from Eden Prime, Ambassador, in case you had any questions." Anderson promptly answered.

"I've read the reports, Captain." The ambassador responded testily, "I assume you've put everything in."

"Yes, Sir." Anderson answered back through gritted teeth. "At least they're giving us a hearing."

"It took some browbeating, chest thumping, and more than a little whining and pleading to do it." Udina replied, "They're not fond of having their top Spectre accused of treason."

"No surprise there." Carrie quipped as she made a few final adjustments before closing her compact. "What did you expect? A dozen roses…maybe candy?"

"I expected you to do your job." Udina fired back, "Instead, you made a mess of things. Nihlus dead…The beacon destroyed. Your candidacy in the Spectres has probably been irretrievably ruined."

"That's Saren's fault, not hers." Anderson objected, interposing himself between Shepard and the Ambassador.

"That's ok, Captain." Carrie responded, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, "I didn't ask for the job anyway. I can always go back to modeling and doing commercials full-time. Hmmm…I might even audition as a Blasto girl in the upcoming 'To Enkindle with Love' movie. Oughtta be a few laughs in that."

"Carrie…" Captain Anderson chided, giving his subordinate a stern look, "You're not helping matters."

"We have a few minutes before the hearing, Anderson." Udina declared, pointedly ignoring Shepard, "I want to discuss a few things with you. As for Shepard and the others, they can meet us at the Citadel Tower. I'll see to it that they have the necessary clearances."

"Once the Ambassador and Captain had safely left the room, Kaidan turned to Carrie and asked, "Were you serious about what you told the ambassador? That you really don't care about being the first human Spectre?"

"Yeah." Carrie again shrugged her shoulders, "It really doesn't matter to me. Look…not to sound preachy or anything, but I put this uniform on because I want to help people. I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through on Mindoir." She said in a soft, almost inaudible voice. "I don't need to be a Spectre to help people. I don't even need to be an Alliance soldier. Neither one of those things define who I am. So…Udina can't threaten me by withdrawing me from candidacy…Anderson and Hackett can't threaten me by kicking me out of the service. Now…" The lieutenant commander said with a smile, "We better get a move on. The hearing's going to begin soon, and I have a feeling we're going to be the guests of honor."

As they exited the embassy, they heard a tentative almost timid voice call out, "Chief Williams? Is that you, Chief Williams?"

Looking about, Shepard spotted a small, shy, chocolate skinned man waving. "Someone you know, Chief?"

"No Ma'am." The gunnery chief answered, "But he apparently knows me."

As they approached the man, he seemed to sigh in relief, "Chief Williams? You don't know me, but my wife, Nirali Bhatia, was in the 212 with you."

"You're Samesh." Ashley responded, her voice filled with both sympathy and guilt, "I'm so sorry. Besides being a good marine and great cook, Nirali was a good friend. If there's anything I can do?"

"Thank you, Chief. Yes, there is." Pausing for a moment, unsure as to whether he should continue, the little man was encouraged by Ashley's kind smile and nod of her head. "They won't release my Nirali's body! They say they're holding it for tests!"

"That's unusual." Kaidan noted, "One thing about the Alliance is that it usually makes a point of releasing the fallen to their loved ones as soon as possible."

Suspecting the real reason for the stalling, Carrie asked, "Did they give any reason other than tests for not releasing your wife to you?"

"No, Ma'am." Samesh replied, "Every time I see Mr. Bosker, he says he's sorry, but my Nirali is still serving the Alliance and that I should be proud."

"There's no call for this!" Ashley growled as she turned to her superior, "Ma'am…we have to do something."

"I agree with you, Chief." Carrie replied, "She was your comrade, I'll follow your lead."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Ashley smiled as she turned to Samesh, "Can you tell us where that crapweasel Bosker's hiding."

"I saw him go into the Embassy Lounge." Samesh replied, "They won't let me in because I'm not with the Embassy or the Alliance or with someone who is."

"Don't worry about that, Samesh." Ashley said, "We'll get in and we'll get him to release Nirali back to you." Turning to her friends, Ashley said through gritted teeth as she cracked her knuckles, "Come on, I want to look Bosker in the eye before I redecorate his face."

"Easy, Chief." Carrie urged as the three walked to the lounge. As they heard the sound of laughter and tinkling glasses, the blonde officer whispered, "Keep your temper in check. You're not going to get anything except thrown out if you lose it. You feel my hand on your shoulder, you back off—got it."

Seeing the serious look on her commander's face, Ashley nodded her head, "Understood, Ma'am."

Turning to Kaidan, Carrie blinked her eyes once in unspoken communication. Immediately picking up on her non-verbal cue, the lieutenant nodded his head slightly.

"That must be him." Ashley growled as she pointed to a slender man sitting at the bar.

"Remember, Chief." The commander warned, "Easy."

"You Bosker?" Ashley demanded as she drew close to the bureaucrat.

"Yes…" The slender man responded, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, I want to know why you're keeping Nirali Bhatia instead of releasing her to her husband like you're supposed to."

"That's need to know, Chief." Bosker replied in a haughty tone, "And you don't need to know."

"Why you little weasel!" Ashley growled as she balled her fist, "I oughtta…" She then felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Kaidan's voice.

"Let it go, Chief. That's an order."

"Thank you, Commander…"

"Shepard." Carrie replied helpfully. "Chief Williams might not have the required clearances…" Carrie said in a polite voice, "But I assure you, I do. Why is the Alliance keeping Serviceman Bhatia's body?"

"It's not out of an arbitrary whim, Commander." Bosker replied, "Serviceman Bhatia, in death, is performing an invaluable service to the Alliance. Her wounds are providing us vital insights into Geth technology. Insights that will allow us to develop effective weapons and countermeasures. In death, she will be saving lives—many lives."

"How much time before these weapons come on line?" Shepard asked.

"A year…maybe two." Bosker replied, "We're fast tracking this, but it's going to take time. The more tests we can run, the quicker we can get it done."

"Surely you can use other bodies." Carrie pointed out, "Eden Prime was a charnel house—believe me, I know."

"The problem is, Commander…" Bosker explained, "That only a few of the bodies that we've been able to recover were in as good a condition as that of Serviceman Bhatia's. Most were infected with some sort of cybernetics that we are also studying."

"Those husks we saw." Carrie growled, "I hope you're not trying to duplicate those!"

"No!" Bosker vehemently shook his head, "We just want to know what happened so that we can maybe find some means of preventing it or neutralizing it. Please, Commander…I know this is difficult. I would love nothing more than to reunite Samesh with his wife and I promise you, I will do that, but we are trying to save lives. It's painful…I know…but please, let us do our work. Please, allow Serviceman Bhatia to perform one last act of sacrifice for her people."

Closing her eyes, Carrie took a deep breath. _The good of the many versus the needs of one. Which is the moral choice and which the selfish? Big Bro…Mom…Dad…I need you now. What would you do, John? What would you want me to do if that were you instead of Ashley's friend?_ Coming to a painful and heartrending decision, Shepard slowly exhaled, "I'll speak with Mr. Bhatia and explain to him what's going on—but I want something from you in return. I want Nirali released to Mr. Bhatia the moment…and I mean the moment…that testing is completed on her. Do you promise me you'll do that?"

"You have my word, Commander." Bosker quietly replied as he nodded his head.

"Good." Carrie responded, "Because I'm holding you to it." Turning to her two comrades, Carrie jerked her head towards the door, "Come on, let's go."

Once the three had left the lounge, Ashley cried out, barely containing her anger, "How could have, Commander? How could you have let him keep Nirali. I thought you understood…that you would have…"

Grasping both of the chief's shoulders with her hands, Carrie gazed straight into Ashley's eyes, "Chief…Ashley…listen to me. The impression I've gotten of Nirali from you and everyone else is that this was a woman who gave of herself freely and completely."

"She was." Ashley responded in a soft voice.

"She was a person who would help anyone in need without asking anything in return, right?"

"Yeah." The chief responded with a sad, fond smile.

"Now, ask yourself this question. What would Nirali have wanted? If she knew that her sacrifice would save possibly countless lives, what would she have told you to do?"

"She'd have begged me to let her do it." Ashley tearfully answered.

"That's what I thought." Carrie consoled. "Now…" She said as she saw an anxious Samesh waiting, "Comes the hard part. Excuse me…" Carrie said as she released the chief from her grasp. "This is something I have to do alone." Approaching the grieving husband, Carrie guided him to a nearby bench where they talked quietly. Several times during the conversation, Samesh broke down crying, a few times, he seemed so angry that he almost walked away only to have Carrie gently talk him down until finally, the grief-stricken man sobbed uncontrollably as Shepard allowed him to cry on her shoulder.

As Samesh began to walk away, Ashley called out to him and told him in a soft, mournful voice, "Samesh? Nirali used to always play your vidmails every night and…I remember her telling me that she always enjoyed your cooking."

"Thank you, Chief." The widower responded as he choked back a sob, "It's not the same as having her here, but I appreciate the thought."

Carrie, still sitting on the bench, her shoulder moist with Samesh's tears, sadly shook her head as she watched the grief-stricken husband depart. "Sometimes…" She said in a low voice as she wiped away the tears from her eyes, "I really hate my job."

"It was a hard call, Carrie." Kaidan consoled as he placed an arm around the lieutenant commander's shoulder, "But for what it's worth, I think you made the right choice."

"Still not going to let me sleep tonight, Kaidan." Carrie remarked as she gently removed the lieutenant's arm from around her shoulder and stood up. "We better get to the Council Tower now—Udina and Anderson should be there when we arrive."

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As she and her squad made their way up the stairs towards the upper Council chambers, Carrie could hear amidst the arguing, a familiar voice, smiling, she picked up her pace just in time to see Garrus Vakarian, the same C-Sec officer that had served as her modeling troupe's minder during their photo shoot a few years ago and had helped foil an attempted heist at Flux, in a heated exchange with another turian.

"Saren's hiding something! I know it. Just give me more time.' Garrus practically begged, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Stall the Council?" Executor Pallin shook his head, "Don't be ridiculous, Vakarian. This investigation is over."

As the Executor walked away, Shepard called out to the other turian, "Garrus?"

"Carrie?" Garrus turned his head to see the blonde Alliance officer and part-time model with two other Alliance officers, "And Kaidan…right?"

"Right." Kaidan nodded his head.

"Ashley Williams." Carrie introduced the gunnery chief who curtly nodded her head.

"They put you on this case?" Carrie asked

"Yeah." Garrus nodded his head, "And I've been getting nothing but what you humans call 'stone-faced.'."

"Stonewalled." Carrie chuckled, "But I understand what you mean."

"He's rotten…I can smell it." Garrus said, "But I can't get anything on him. I get a lead…follow it…it looks like it's about to pay off…and then the Council and Pallin slap a 'Classified' brand on it and it's back to square one."

"Crap." Carrie swore, empathizing with the turian police officer.

"I think the Council's ready." Kaidan interjected, "I see the Captain waiting for us."

"I better let you go, Carrie. I've got one more lead." Garrus whispered conspiratorially, "I don't want to say anything now in case they find out and quash it. I'll let you know if it pans out. Anyway, you might have better luck dealing with them than I did."

"I doubt that, Garrus." Carrie replied with a lopsided grin as she shook her head. "Might wanna hang around a bit before you go chasing your lead though, I got a feeling you're going to need to catch us when they send us flying outta here in a few minutes."

As Garrus walked away, Carrie turned her attention to the top of the stairs, "Come on troops. Let's get this over with."

"Captain." Carrie saluted respectfully.

"Hurry up…" Anderson replied, returning his executive officer's salute, "The hearing's already started."

As she walked up to where the Ambassador was standing, Carrie could hear the Councilors speak, "And the coverup starts." She whispered as she took her place next to Anderson.

"There is no evidence to support your charges of treason, Ambassador." The turian councilor declared.

_Of course not._ Carrie thought to herself, _He's too smart to leave any smoking guns like that hanging around._ She then heard the Ambassador citing Powell's testimony. _Now he's playing the eyewitness card. That's going to get shot down quick._

The salarian councilor arrogantly replied, "The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof." _And boom…right on cue. Can I call 'em or can I call 'em._

"I resent these accusations…" As Carrie heard Saren refute the charges she shook her head in admiration, _Oh…he's good…damn good. He's got them eating out of his hand. The asari councilor is ready to have his baby and the salarian and turian ones are itching to polish his…mandibles. _"Nihlus was a fellow Spectre…and friend."

"That just gave you an opening to catch him off guard!" Anderson interrupted.

_Oh boy…_Carrie groaned inwardly, _Don't do it, Captain…please don't do it!_

"Captain Anderson…you always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." _Yup…definitely a history here. This is going to get ugly…_"And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."

"Oops…" Carrie smirked, not even trying to make an excuse.

"Is that all you have to say about the destroyed beacon?" A surprised turian councilor exclaimed, "Oops.".

"Your attitude does seem to be rather cavalier." The asari councilor reproved.

"What do you want me to say?" Carrie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…It was an accident? If I said that Saren did it, he'd just say that I'm trying to shift the blame to him. Maybe he did it…maybe when we accidently triggered the beam that caused it to break. I don't know—I'm not exactly a Prothean expert. Maybe if you found one, you could figure out what was going on."

"Sloppy, Captain Anderson has taught you well, but then again, what can you expect from a human?" _You slipped up, Saren!_ Carrie smirked triumphantly. _You're overplaying the scene!_ "Your species needs to know its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council; you're not even ready to join the Spectres."

_Now watch how it's done, Saren._ _My turn._ "I'm sorry, Councilors, if I or my attire appears a little disheveled. Before we came here, we met a man, Samesh Bhatia. His wife, Nirali Bhatia, was one of those who fell at Eden Prime. Chief Williams knew her. She was no one important, just a Serviceman, a lowly human…soon to be discharged. She wanted to open a restaurant with her husband…"

"I hardly see the relevance of this…" The turian councilor interrupted.

"Please…let me continue, Councilor…you let Saren have his say…" Carrie quickly replied and then continued before she could be silenced again, "His tears still soak my shoulder. I honestly don't care whether I'm made a Spectre or not and while it would be nice if humanity did have a seat on the Council, I'm not going to sweat it if we don't. All I want is to see that Nirali and Samesh Bhatia, two unimportant human beings, have justice done. Nothing more. Thank you." _I want to thank the Academy for this award. My thanks go out to all the people who made this possible…_

"Damn Commander." Ashley whispered, "Where did that come from."

"Ad-libbed, Chief." Carrie whispered back, "Now we'll see if it did any good."

"We need evidence." The salarian councilor, apparently unmoved by Shepard's performance, responded. "So far, we have seen nothing. Shepard's moving performance notwithstanding."

"Well…the salarian didn't buy it." Carrie whispered to Kaidan.

"No surprise there." He whispered back.

"We still have one outstanding issue…" Captain Anderson announced.

_No, Captain!_ Carrie pleaded inwardly, _Please don't! Whatever you do—don't bring that up!"_

"Commander Shepard's vision. It may have been triggered by the beacon."

_And he did it! Saren was just waiting for that. Cue the martyr routine with a side of Kooky Carrie._

"Are we allowing dreams as evidence now?" Saren demanded.

_Of course not._ Carrie silently retorted, _Does this look like Salem to you?_ Then, as she looked at the councilors standing behind their daises, she amended, _Well…maybe it does, but you're not the one facing witchcraft charges here._

"How can I defend myself against this kind of testimony?"

_You're doing a pretty good job of doing it right now._

As the turian councilor agreed with his fellow turian, Carrie let out a sigh as she glanced at a crestfallen Anderson, _What did you expect, Captain? That they were going to buy that? I told you this would happen!_

"Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?" The salarian councilor asked.

"Nah." Carrie shook her head, "I think we all know which way this train's going."

As the asari councilor closed the hearing, Carrie shook her head as she looked at both Anderson and Udina, heads bowed, dejected and disheartened. _What did you two numbskulls expect? Came in here with nothing…you got nothing._

Turning his attention to Anderson and Shepard, Ambassador Udina growled, "It was a mistake bringing both of you into that hearing. Shepard…your little performance aside, your flippancy and casual irreverence did not help our cause. And Anderson…you and Saren have too much history. Besides causing the Council to question our motives, it might have caused us to move before we should have."

_Wow. _Carrie thought to herself, _He actually gets it. Well a broke clock's right twice a day._

"Saren is a threat to us all!" Anderson vehemently declared, "He's working with the geth. Every colony…every world we control is in danger. Even Earth!"

Deciding that enough was enough, Carrie demanded, "Captain? What happened between you and Saren?"

Head lowered, the captain replied, "The two of us were teamed up on a mission years ago. The mission went south and it got bad—real bad. Now's not a good time to talk about it, but I know Saren has to be stopped."

"Oooookay…" Carrie carefully replied, "The only thing the Council is going to accept is hard evidence. So…how do we go about getting that."

"What about Garrus, Carrie?" Kaidan suggested. "He mentioned that he was following up a lead."

"That's right!" Carrie exclaimed, "All we need to do is track him down…"

"I have a C-Sec contact." Ambassador Udina declared, "His name's Harkin. He can probably put you on to where Garrus might be."

"Forget Harkin." Anderson growled, shaking his head, "He's a loser. A drunk and a crooked cop. I won't waste my time with him."

"Not your time to waste, Anderson." Udina retorted, "As of now, you're benched. I'm not going to give the Council an excuse to dismiss any evidence we might find because of your relationship with Saren. Shepard…you've got point on this now."

_Thank you, Udina. That's the second thing you did right today! Don't like doing this to you, Captain, but you really are too close to this to do it right._ Demurring, Carrie replied, "I don't feel right cutting the Captain out."

Exhaling deeply as he bowed his head, the Captain admitted, "The Ambassador's right here, Carrie. I know you feel the same way, but don't want to say so out of loyalty. I thank you for your show of support just now, but it is time I bowed out."

"Meet me in my office later, Captain." The Ambassador ordered as he left the chamber, leaving the Captain, Shepard, and the others in the room by themselves.

"You can probably find Harkin at Chora's Den." Anderson said, further ordering, "I know you don't like carrying a sidearm, Commander, but Chora's Den is a dangerous place. I'm ordering you to carry at least a concealed holdout throughout this investigation—do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Carrie reluctantly acknowledged.

"Chief Williams?" Anderson spoke, addressing the armory officer.

"Yes, Sir."

"See that Shepard is issued the appropriate sidearm and do not allow her off the _Normandy_ without her carrying it at all times—you're acting under my personal authority here."

"Understood, Sir." Williams promptly responded.

"Are there any other leads that you can think of, Sir?" Carrie asked.

"Hmmm…yes…he might know." Anderson contemplated, "Try Barla Von. He's in the financial district. I've heard rumors that he's tied up with the Shadow Broker. Couldn't hurt to pay him a visit."

"Ok…" Carrie ventured, "Udina's not here now so we can talk freely. What happened between you and Saren?"

Shaking his head, Anderson sat down on a couch as Carrie took the seat next to him. "About twenty years ago, we were sent to the Skyllian Verge to take out a terrorist. Saren succeeded and took out the target, but a lot of innocents got killed along the way. Just like now, the official records covered it all up. Saren has no conscious or morals. Look, I'm not a child or some fuzzy-headed idealist. I know that sometimes, you have to make the hard choices, but you only do that after you've tried or considered everything else. Saren goes immediately for the most destructive course. And you saw how good he is at covering his tracks."

"Sounds like a sociopath." Carrie commented with just a touch of sarcasm, "The perfect Spectre."

"Perhaps." Anderson admitted. "But the galaxy couldn't function without them."

"Maybe." Carrie conceded, "Maybe not. I'm not sure about people who have no accountability running around doing whatever they want whenever they want. Anyway…" The blonde sighed, "We should get to work."

"And I need to get to the Ambassador's office." Anderson replied. "If you need me, you can find me there."

As Anderson walked away, Carrie turned to her team, "All right. Back to the _Normandy _to change into civilian clothes."

"Civilian clothes?" Ashley interrupted.

"Yeah." Carrie replied, "We can't go traipsing about in Chora's Den dressed as good little troopers. Harkin'll never talk to us then. So…civvies for everyone."

"Just as well." The chief responded, "That'll give us a chance to pick out a weapon for you…" Seeing the look the commander was giving her, Ashley allowed a sly grin to cross her face, "Remember…Captain's orders."

"She's got you there, Carrie." Kaidan chuckled.

"All right." I'll wear a damn gun—but I want one that won't interfere with my outfit."

"We'll get you something fashionable, Commander." Ashley chuckled, "Maybe something that'll fit in a bra holster or a garter holster…"

"Chief?" Carrie smirked, "Anyone ever tell you that you're a royal pain in the ass?"

"All the time, Skipper." Ashley chuckled, "All the time.".


	8. Chapter 8: Getting the Gang Together

STRIKE A POSE

Chapter 8

Eying her commander's choice of civilian clothing, a short blue dress with black low-heeled boots and a black purse, Ashley almost failed to notice the silver choker Carrie was wearing around her neck and the matching earrings. "I think I have the perfect piece for you, Commander." The gunnery chief said as she checked a small pistol out from the armory. "It's a modification of the Kessler designed for concealed carry. Light, accurate, not much stopping power, but it's intended as a last-resort holdout. Plus…" The chief declared with a mischievous smirk, "It's fashionable. You can carry it in a boot holster or you can carry it in your purse. No unsightly bulges or anything like that. No one will even know you're carrying."

Looking at the weapon on the chief's table with distaste, Carrie frowned, "It's not like I need to carry it…"

"Commander…" Chief Williams gently chided, "You heard the Captain's orders…he wants you to carry concealed whenever you're off the ship and he's made me responsible for making sure that you do. Look, Ma'am…" The chief pleaded, "I know you probably don't care if you get chewed out, but it's my butt that's on the line too…"

"All right! All right!" Carrie groaned, "I'll carry it…if for no other reason than to keep you out of Anderson's doghouse."

"Thanks Ma'am." Ashley smiled. "Just a moment and I'll set you up with a boot holster. That'll probably work better than keeping it in your purse. That way, you don't have to worry about losing it if your purse gets snatched. Don't look at me that way…" The chief chuckled, "I've seen combat experts get their purses snatched and their pockets picked before they even knew it was happening."

"Ready Commander? Chief?" Kaidan called out as he approached the two women. Wearing a stylish outfit consisting of matching shirt and pants, the biotic cut a dashing figure.

"Looking good, LT." Ashley grinned.

"New outfit, Kaidan?" Carrie quipped.

"Nah." The lieutenant grinned back, "I've had it for some time. Just never had much of an opportunity to wear it."

"Well…" Carrie smiled, "Looks like we're dressed to kill, so let's go."

"Where to first?" Kaidan asked as the trio made their way through the _Normandy_'s docking tube.

"I was thinking about checking out Anderson's lead with Barla Von before going into the Wards. If we go to Chora's Den first, I'm going to have to take a shower afterwards."

"I hear you, Commander." Ashley quickly agreed.

"All right." Kaidan sighed, "The financial district and then Chora's Den."

"What's wrong, Kaidan?" Carrie teased, "You sound disappointed. Hoping to buy a lap dance from an asari stripper?"

"Ummmm…" The handsome lieutenant stammered.

"Busted!" Ashley laughed as the group emerged from the elevator on to the Presidium.

Smiling broadly as she took in the bustling sights, sounds, and smells of the Presidium, Carrie, feeling especially bubbly and perky, remarked, "I love it here! There's just so much going on." Seeing Saphyra sitting at her desk, Carrie winked and blew the asari receptionist a kiss, "Hi, Saphi! How's it going?"

As the asari smiled and waved back, Ashley commented, "You're certainly in a good mood today, Commander."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Carrie responded as she led the trio on the long way around to the financial district, waving and smiling at people as she passed them by. "No rain…temperature's just right." Taking a deep breath, the blonde model smiled, "Can you smell that? Jasmine! And look at the people." She exclaimed, "All the major races, most of the minors, and even a few I don't recognize."

"Yeah…" Ashley grumbled, her voice just loud enough so that Kaidan and Shepard could hear, but no one else could, "Can't tell the animals from the aliens…"

On hearing the gunnery chief's remark, Kaidan glanced at Carrie, raising an eyebrow in inquiry. In response, Carrie gave a subtle shake of her head as she fell in beside the chief and placed a friendly arm around the other woman's shoulder. "Chief..." Shepard said in a voice that while gentle, carried with it an undercurrent of command, "We don't refer to non-humans as animals—understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Ashley promptly replied, immediately getting the message.

"Good." Carrie replied, maintaining her genial, yet firm voice as she took her arm off of the gunnery chief's shoulders. "We have a lot to talk about later—and we **will** talk about it." She declared, her smile momentarily vanishing to be replaced by a serious, grave expression, "But right now, we've got other fish to fry, right? Right!" Her smile returned almost as quickly as it had disappeared as the three humans reached the relay statue. "This is where the lieutenant and I first met." Carrie exclaimed, "Isn't that right, Kaidan."

"Yes, Ma'am." Kaidan smiled back. "You, Asryna, and Laura were doing a swimsuit shoot."

"Yeah." Carrie chuckled as she pointed at the center of the statue. "I was wearing a gold lame bikini and I posed right in the middle."

"That was you?" Ashley exclaimed. "I remember Gonzalez hanging that poster up in the squadbay. I'm kinda curious though…other than that secretary at the Embassy, no one seems to recognize you, but you've been on the extranet and in that commercial and on magazines—why isn't there a crowd all around you?"

Laughing, Carrie replied as they reached the entrance to Barla Von's offices, "It's a trade secret. If I'm in the mood, I might just show you later on…" She teased with a mischievous wink as they entered the financial consultant's headquarters. Seeing a volus sitting behind a desk, Carrie called out, "Barla Von?"

"Ah…Shepard!" The Volus wheezed through the vocalizer in his environment suit. "It's an honor to have you in my establishment. Are you looking to open an account or is the business you're on of a more…sensitive…nature?"

Seeing that, besides the volus, she and her companions were the only ones in the office, Carrie sauntered over to the financial consultant's desk and, sitting on the corner, smiled down at the volus. "Captain Anderson says that your trustworthy. Is he right?"

"I'd like to think so." The volus replied, "The Council meeting aside, he generally shows good judgment. His big blind spot is…as you're no doubt already aware…" The volus wheezed, "Saren. Where Saren is concerned, Anderson has a tendency to let personal animosity cloud his usual good sense, often with unfortunate or even tragic results—again, as recent events have just illustrated."

"I won't argue with you about that." Carrie conceded, adding, "You seem to be remarkably well informed though. The meeting had just ended a little while ago. It didn't take long for the information to get to you."

"Information is my business." Barla Von replied. "And…in all modesty…I am very good at my trade. That is why you are here—is it not? I have information you want—and need."

"Why do I get the impression that your information doesn't come cheap?" Carrie smirked as she drew little circles with her finger on the information broker's desk.

"You're right, Commander." Barla Von affirmed, "This information would normally cost you a great deal. But my employer has instructed me to hand it to you for free."

"For free?" Carrie batted her eyes coquettishly, "Must be one helluva catch for the Shadow Broker to do that—last I heard, he doesn't like giving away free samples."

"You're correct." The volus wheezed, "Timely information is a most valuable commodity and neither my employer nor I are in the habit of giving it away for free. But these are special times, so, I have been directed to give you this information—no strings, no…catches."

"All right." Carrie replied, "Let's hear what you've got."

"To put it bluntly, Saren betrayed the Shadow Broker." Barla Von stated, pausing as he heard an amused chuckle coming from Carrie.

"Saren tried to screw over the Shadow Broker." Carrie laughed, "Not the brightest of moves…"

"No." The volus agreed, "It wasn't. Saren had worked quite closely with the Shadow Broker in the past…"

"Why does that not surprise me?" Carrie interrupted with just the slightest note of sarcasm in her voice.

Barla Von pointed out, "The Shadow Broker and Saren—along with a few other Spectres—have long shared a mutually profitable relationship based on the sharing of information and resources. It doesn't make sense for Saren to have turned on the Shadow Broker as he has done. Needless to say, my employer was not pleased."

"I'm sure he wasn't." Carrie retorted wryly. "So…how did the Shadow Broker express his displeasure—as if I had to ask?"

"He sent a freelance bounty hunter to deal with the problem." Barla Von replied.

"That bounty hunter would have to be good to go up against a spectre and hope to come out of it alive." Ashley noted.

"Let's see…" Carrie began to tick off names, "There's Zaeed Massani, but he's not on the station. Enyala and Wassea, are capable enough, but they're Eclipse and normally don't operate here. Garm with the Blood Pack…don't think so. C-Sec would be on him and his boys like a cheap suit on Udina. Could be another krogan. I wonder…"

"The freelancer was a krogan mercenary." Barla Von confirmed. "The last I heard, he was a guest of C-Sec. If you hurry, you might catch him before either C-Sec releases him…"

"Or he releases himself." Kaidan quipped.

Seeing that their interview had come to an end, Carrie hopped off the information broker's desk. "Thanks for the tip, Barla—and thank your boss for us too."

"You're welcome, Commander." The volus wheezed as his guests left. Sighing in relief, Barla Von pressed a button and spoke, "I've done as you've asked."

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"So…" Kaidan asked as the three humans made their way back across the Presidium. "C-Sec?"

"Not yet." Carrie shook her head.

"Oh? Why not?" Kaidan exclaimed, somewhat surprised at the Commander's answer. "Our window to catch the krogan probably isn't a big one."

"It's bigger than you might think." Carrie smiled back. "C-Sec has krogan containment facilities if he gets violent—although I doubt they'll hold this krogan if he is who I think he is. He wants to bust out, he's gone. C-Sec'll never be able to hold him. But I'm betting he'll wait a little bit before breaking out. Wouldn't surprise me if he's expecting me to show up. If he's not who I think he is, then C-Sec can keep him on ice, I don't want any loose cannons here."

"So…Chora's Den?" Ashley inquired.

"Right." Carrie groaned. "Perk up, Kaidan…looks like you're gonna get your T & A after all."

"I think he's already perked up, Commander." Ashely teased as Kaidan's face turned a bright red.

"I think we've had enough fun at the LT's expense, Chief." Carrie smirked as the three humans entered a darkened area of the wards, lit up only by a few flickering neon signs.

"I don't like this, Ma'am." Ashley cautioned in a low voice, "Good spot for an ambush."

Just then, Carrie caught a glimmer of reflected light, "Down!" The blonde commando shouted as she dived and rolled to cover.

"I make out two." Kaidan whispered in a low voice from his cover. "One flanking to the left…the other to the right."

"They pulled the trigger too soon." Ashley observed. "They should have waited until we got closer to the center."

"Amateurs." Carrie grumbled, "Thugs for hire."

"Orders, Commander?" Kaidan inquired as he threw up his barrier.

Raising her own barrier, Carrie answered, "Stasis 'em and restrain 'em as they come out of stasis—no need to kill 'em."

"Right." Kaidan replied approvingly. "Just say when."

"Now!" Carrie ordered as both biotics struck simultaneously, trapping both assassins in stasis fields. "Ok…" Shepard smirked as she carefully moved out of cover. "Let's wrap 'em up and call C-Sec."

A few minutes later, C-Sec arrived to take the two turian would-be assassins into custody. As the C-Sec sergeant investigating the case took Carrie's statement he offered praise, "Good catch with those two—we've been after them for some time. Mostly breaking and entering, but they're also muscle for hire. Looks like they decided to move into the big leagues. I am curious about one thing though: You could have just killed them…"

"That would have just caused you and me more hassle and paperwork and neither one of us wants that. You guys in C-Sec have enough to keep you busy here—you don't need me adding to your troubles." Carrie smiled as the sergeant chuckled, "But…" She whispered as she drew the sergeant closer to her so that the two could talk privately, "Depending on what happens, things could get messy sooner or later—probably sooner. I'll try my best to keep it low profile, but…"

"Long as no innocents get caught in the crossfire…" The sergeant interrupted, his mandibles making the turian equivalent of a smile, "I'll see to it that you don't have any problems with my superiors."

"Thanks, sergeant." Carrie smiled back as two other C-Sec officers loaded the would-be assassins into the back of a patrol skycar. "Anything I can do for you, just holler."

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"That worked out better than I expected." Kaidan sighed with relief as the C-Sec skycars departed. "I thought for sure we'd be tied up for hours with paperwork."

"If we'd have killed 'em or I'd have been a smart ass to the sergeant, we would have." Carrie responded. "But, as it stands, we've got the sergeant on our side if things do get rough later on. Like they say…" She grinned, "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."

"Speaking of which…" Ashley inquired as the booming bass beat coming from Chora's Den began to assault the ears of Carrie and her companions, "How do you want to handle Harkin? Color me skeptical, but I've got a feeling sweet-talk's not going to work with him. No offense, but this is one time where good looks, a cute smile, and charm just isn't going to cut it."

"You're right, Chief." Carrie nodded her head as the three Alliance officers not only heard, but began to feel the loud music coming from the seedy lounge. "And there's no way I'm letting someone like him anywhere near getting in my pants." The blonde shuddered dramatically as she recoiled at that particular mental image. "I've got an idea though that might work. You two just follow my lead." She commanded as they entered the bar.

As their senses were assailed by the sights, smells, and sounds coming from the music and customers in the lounge, Ashley muttered, "Damn! If you took every cheap dive described in every cheap novel and put them all together, that'd be this place."

"I've seen worse." Kaidan replied, then, seeing the raised eyebrows from both Ashley and Carrie, qualified, "Shore patrols and serving as Officer of the Deck."

"Uh Huh." Carrie vocalized with a smirk.

"That must be him." Ashley inclined her head towards a seedy looking man sitting alone in the corner, his back to the wall, nursing a drink and eyeing the asari strippers.

"Follow my lead, guys." Carrie commanded as she sauntered up to the man in question. "You Harkin?"

"Well…well…well…" The former C-Sec officer leered, "I gotta feeling you're way out of my price range, cutie…but I might be able to afford a lap dance."

Shaking her head, Carrie vocalized, "Tsk...tsk…tsk...Harkin. Bending down, the blonde adept flashed blue momentarily as she placed two of her fingers under the drunkard's chin, pulling his head up to meet her eyes, "It's not what I can do for you, silly boy…it's what you're gonna do for me."

"And that is?" Harkin sneered.

"You're gonna tell me where Garrus Vakarian is…and you're gonna tell me now, aren't you?" Carrie purred

"Hmph…give me one good reason why I should tell you anything, pretty lady?" Harkin scoffed.

"I can think of two…" Carrie smirked as Ashley cracked her knuckles and Kaidan allowed his biotics to momentarily flare. "Guys…" She then said sweetly as she turned to her companions, "Why don't you take Mr. Harkin out to that alley we saw next to the lounge—you know, that nice, dark, out of the way alley? And talk to our friend here while I get my nails done. I shouldn't be that long."

"Take your time, Boss…" Ashley grinned evilly as she placed a rough hand on Harkin's shoulder, squeezing it just enough to cause him to wince. "I'm sure we'll find plenty to talk about. Isn't that right, Harkin?"

"Heh…You think the old good cop-bad cop routine's gonna work with me, toots?" Harkin laughed, "I've used it plenty of times…you don't look like you've got the guts to carry it through."

Sighing as she shook her head, Carrie ordered her two companions, "Take him outside and do what you've got to do. Just get me that information. I'll clear any paperwork that needs to be cleared with Anderson and C-Sec."

"Ok, Harkin." Kaidan ordered with an unaccustomed grimness to his tone, "Time for us to go have a talk."

"All right! All right!" Harkin slumped back in his seat, "You win. But before I tell you where Garrus is, you might want to know that your precious Captain Anderson was once a candidate for the spectres."

"So?" Carrie shrugged her shoulders, "Why should I care and what does that have to do with Garrus and his investigation?"

"Oh…it has everything to do with it." Harkin smirked, "We call it context in the business."

"All right…" Carrie sighed, deciding to humor the drunk, "So…Anderson was a candidate for the spectres and since he obviously didn't get in, I'm thinking that Saren had something to do with that."

"You are a sharp cookie." Harkin laughed as he downed his drink in a single gulp. "Order me another drink and I'll tell you the whole story."

"How about you tell me the story and if I like what I hear I might order you a drink." Carrie countered as Ashley glared down at the former C-Sec officer.

"Ok…" Harkin grumbled, "Anderson and Saren were assigned to a mission together only something happened and Anderson got the blame and his candidacy was dropped like a hot potato. He blames Saren for sabotaging him and has been nursing a grudge against him ever since."

"Not telling me anything I didn't already know or suspect." Carrie yawned dramatically, "Now tell me something I don't know…"

"Ask Anderson if you want the rest of the story." Harkin snarked back.

"All right…you've had your fun…" Carrie warned as she locked eyes with Harkin, "Now…tell me where Vakarian is."

"There's a small clinic in the wards." Harkin replied, "I heard he was following up a lead there. That's probably where you can find him if you're fast enough."

"Why couldn't you have told me that earlier?" Carrie grumbled as she motioned for a waitress to bring Harkin another drink, "It would have saved us both a lot of time."

"If I'd have told you right away…" Harkin smirked, "You wouldn't have bought me another drink. Have fun tracking down Saren and try not to get killed in the process. Girls with asses like yours are few and far between."

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"This must be the clinic Harkin mentioned." Carrie deduced as the door slid open to reveal four gun-wielding thugs threatening a woman wearing a white medical uniform.

"I didn't tell anyone! I swear!" The woman pleaded as the gunman pointed his pistol at her.

"Smart move, Doctor. Now, if Garrus comes by, you tell him to…Vakarian! One move and the Doctor gets it. You're gonna let us walk out with our hostage or I put a bullet in that pretty head of hers."

"Not gonna happen, Frankie." The turian responded as Carrie motioned quietly for Ashley and Kaiden to move to cover while she reached out at the closest of the thugs with her biotics, dominating his mind and will.

"What?" the leader, hearing Ashley's footsteps, turned about rapidly, giving Garrus the opening he needed to take his shot as the dominated thug turned on his fellows, shooting at them while Ashley and Kaidan both took out the remaining thugs, leaving the last thug to be brought down, still alive, by Garrus.

"Thanks, Carrie." Garrus smirked as he cuffed the surviving thug, "Gave me the opening I needed."

"How's the hostage?" Shepard asked as Kaidan helped the woman up.

"I'm fine." The woman replied, dusting herself off. "Thank you…"

"Carrie." Carrie responded, "Carrie Shepard. I'm a lieutenant commander with the Alliance."

"Dr. Chloe Michel." The woman answered back in a faint French accent. "I run this clinic."

"Those thugs didn't look like they were here to swipe your medigel or drugs, Doctor." Carrie noted.

"They weren't.' Dr. Michel replied. "They work for Fist."

"He's the guy who owns Chora's Den and has his fingers in a good chunk of whatever 's dirty going on here, isn't he?" Carrie noted, "Why would he be interested in the likes of you? You don't owe him any money or anything, do you?"

"No. No!" Doctor Michel vigorously shook her head. "I treated a young quarian patient who'd been attacked by thugs…"

"You think this might have something to do with Saren, Garrus?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah." The turian nodded his head, "I think it might."

"Ok…" Carrie took a deep breath and then exhaled, "This quarian, what's her story?"

"She'd been shot." Doctor Michel explained, "And she was scared…"

"That's understandable." Ashley interjected.

"She asked me about the Shadow Broker." Dr. Michel continued, "She said she had information she wanted to trade in exchange for a safe place to hide."

"Does everyone here work for the Shadow Broker?" Carrie threw up her hands dramatically.

"Not everyone." Garrus smirked, "But it sure seems like it."

" I do not work for the Shadow Broker!" Dr. Michel huffed, "But I did put her in touch with Fist who does."

"He was an agent of the Shadow Broker." Garrus corrected, "But he switched over to Saren."

"This just keeps getting better and better." Carrie rolled her eyes. "So, Fist has joined the 'I Screwed the Shadow Broker Society'…"

"Fist must be the target for that krogan bounty hunter C-Sec is holding." Kaidan guessed.

"That'd be my guess." Carrie agreed, "Whatever that quarian has—it's gotta be good for Saren and Fist to go up against the Shadow Broker. We better get to the quarian before Fist gives her over to Saren." Turning to Dr. Michel, Carrie asked, "Did the quarian say anything at all about what sort of information she had?"

"Yes." The doctor nodded her head, "She said it had something to do with the geth."

"This might be what you humans call the 'smoking gun', Carrie!" Garrus exclaimed, "If that information does link Saren with the geth, there's no way the Council can ignore or cover it up—they'll have to act! Look…I know this is your show, but I'm in this too…"

"Say no more! Welcome aboard, Garrus!" Carrie smiled, "We're gonna go and pay Fist a little visit…"

"Before we hit Fist, we might want to swing by C-Sec first." Garrus suggested, "The Shadow Broker hired Wrex…"

"I knew it!" Carrie whooped, "I figured our krogan had to be Uncle Urdnot!"

"Uncle Urdnot?" Ashley whispered.

"Long story." Kaidan whispered back.

"That's right." Garrus smiled. "Wrex paid Chora's Den a visit and scared the crap out of most of the patrons. C-Sec got called and we brought him in to cool his heels."

"You do know he's only there because he wants to be—right?" Carrie smirked.

"I know." Garrus quipped back, "But it's probably a good idea to get him out anyway before he gets impatient."

"Good point." Carrie ordered as she strode towards the door. "First we pick up Uncle Urdnot and then we rescue us a quarian!"

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As soon as Carrie and her little group entered C-Sec, the blonde spotted a giant krogan in the midst of an animated discussion with two human and two turian C-Sec guards.

"You can't go marching into Chora's Den with your shotgun threatening to pull Fist's head through his ass, Wrex!" One of the human guards exclaimed as the two turians fought hard to maintain their composure.

"I mean it." Wrex growled, "Fist will be talking out of his ass once I'm outta here."

"Ouch!" Carrie yelped as she heard that. "Gotta admit, I wouldn't mind paying to see that."

"We can't let you go until you promise to leave Fist alone." The human officer replied, his voice now taking on an almost pleading tone.

"You can try to keep me here…" Wrex retorted in a threatening tone.

"That's my cue." Carrie whispered. Then, raising her voice, the blonde called out as she rushed towards the krogan, "Uncle Urdnot!"

Turning his head on hearing Carrie's voice, a big toothy grin broke out on the krogan's face as Carrie dashed up to him and, much to the surprise and amazement of everyone in the room, leaped into his arms hugging him and kissing him on the cheek. "How's my favorite badass krogan?" Lowering her voice, she whispered in his ear, "Wanna help me take down Fist?"

Laughing, Wrex replied, "I knew there was a reason why I liked you, Shepard. Let's go."

"Don't worry, boys." Carrie smiled as she turned to the C-Sec troopers, "The bug guy's with me."

"If you're duty commander gives you any static…" Garrus added, "Tell him I authorized it."

"Right, Officer Vakarian." The C-Sec officer acknowledged with an obvious sigh of relief, "He's all yours now."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Garrus muttered sarcastically as he turned to Carrie, "Well…looks like we're all together now. Want to go see Fist and get us a quarian?"

"Sounds like a plan." Carrie smirked as Wrex let her gently down, "Let's go guys. We got some work to do."

Watching as Carrie's menagerie left with her, one C-Sec guard muttered to the other, "You sure we did the right thing letting Wrex go? You know they're going to bust up Chora's Den and probably Fist, don't you?"

"Hell yeah!" The guard who authorized the krogan's release exclaimed, "Let 'em bust up Fist—bastard's got it coming. Anyway, Wrex and his friends are now an SEP."

"SEP?" One of the turian guards interjected.

"Yeah." The human guard explained with a smirk, 'Someone Else's Problem. C'mon let's get to the commissary and grab us some lunch—you're buying."

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'What do we do with this piece of crap?" Ashley asked as she, Garrus, and Wrex rushed up to a defeated Fist, followed by Carrie and Kaidan who had just finished knocking off the last of Fist's guards.

"Hold him for C-Sec after we find out what we need to know from him." Carrie responded as she approached Fist. "I'd tell us what we need to know, Fisty…" Carrie grinned evilly as she stared at the thug kneeling before her. Uncle Urdnot's not very patient and neither is Garrus…" She warned, directing the man's attention to the krogan standing on his right brandishing a shotgun and the turian on his left holding an assault rifle.

"I'm not telling you anything." Fist growled defiantly as Wrex deliberately stepped on the thugs ankle.

"Sorry." The big krogan remarked with a grin, "Guess I'm clumsy. Could get clumsy with this." He added as he shoved the barrel of his shotgun in Fist's crotch.

"Ok…Ok…I'll talk!" The gang-leader cried, "I set the quarian up. I sent her to that alley by the club. Saren's men are waiting for her…"

"You bastard!" Carrie spat as she quickly signaled to Kaidan. "With me, LT. You three…" She then gestured towards Ashley, Garrus, and Wrex, "Stick around here til C-Sec picks up this pile of walking garbage and see what else you can dig up."

"Right, Commander." Ashley acknowledged, nodding her head at Wrex and Garrus in unspoken communication as Carrie and Kaidan dashed out. "They're clear now." The gunnery chief whispered as Wrex aimed his shotgun at Fist and quickly pulled the trigger. Kneeling down, Ashley placed a pistol in Fist's hands.

"Carrying a holdout." Garrus muttered, "He hacked his omnicuffs and pulled the pistol when something caught our attention giving Wrex no choice but to kill him. That's what I'm putting in my report and that's what we're telling Carrie."

"Think your bosses will buy it?" Ashley asked as she and Garrus began to rummage through Fist's office.

"Oh yeah." Garrus replied. "They've been wanting to take Fist out of circulation for a long time, but could never do so legally. Long as the legal i's are dotted and t's crossed, they'll accept it. I have a question for you, though. Why are you going along with this? I get the impression you don't care too terribly much for us."

"My likes or dislikes don't have a thing to do with this." Ashley bluntly replied and then confessed, "I haven't been with the Commander for too long, but there's one thing I've noticed about her. She wants to see the good in everyone—even if there isn't any good there." Nudging Fist's corpse with her foot, Ashley saw both Garrus and Wrex nod their heads in agreement as she continued to speak. "I…" She said, recalling her conversation with the apparition who had been haunting her recently, "I made a promise that I would look after her—and I keep my promises. But I have promises to keep…and miles to go before I sleep."

"I understand." Garrus simply replied as he produced an OSD. "This could prove interesting. Hmmm…" The turian smirked as he read the ledger that appeared on his omnitool's display. "Records and names…some of these reach pretty high up…"

"Which means it'll get covered up." Wrex growled.

"Not necessarily." Garrus smirked, "I know someone who'll make good use of this—a reporter—a real reporter—one who actually digs for the truth and publishes it no matter where it leads. I can see that she gets this—she'll make sure it gets out."

"Go for it." Ashley replied, jerking her head up as she heard a noise coming from the bar. "Looks like we got company."

"Saren probably sent a cleanup crew to take out whoever was left." Wrex rumbled as he brandished his shotgun.

"Then let's go out and greet them." Garrus responded as he and Ashley also readied their weapons.

"Sounds like a plan." The gunnery chief smirked.

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"That's the last of 'em, Commander." Kaidan announced as he brought down the remaining assassin, a salarian, with a well-timed overload.

"You must be the quarian everyone's after." Carrie remarked with a smile as she slowly and cautiously approached the nervous quarian, keeping her hands clearly visible as she did so.

"My name is Tali…" The quarian announced, her voice slightly shaky, yet still reflecting determination. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. And as you just saw, I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can." Carrie smiled back, politely refraining from mentioning the singularity that she had cast that had taken out two of the assailants just as they had breached the young quarian's shields or the biotic throw launched by her partner that had sent a turian assassin crashing against the far wall. "But it seems to me like you could use a little help after being screwed over by the Shadow Broker, Fist, and Saren. My name's Carrie…Carrie Shepard. And I'm a Lieutenant Commander with the Systems Alliance Navy. This is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, all round good guy and straight arrow."

"Ms. nar Rayya…" Kaidan nodded his head.

"Tali." The quarian responded, "Just call me Tali."

"All right, Tali." Carrie's lips turned up in a warm smile, "I've been told that you have information that might tie Saren into the geth attack on Eden Prime."

"I do." Tali confirmed, "But…not here. It might be better to go somewhere safer."

"Good idea." Carrie agreed. "Why don't we take you over to Ambassador Udina's office. Kaidan…" The commander ordered, "Get hold of Ashley and the others and have them meet us there. Looks like we're finally going to get to the bottom of this."

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"Shepard isn't making this any easier for me." Udina whined to Captain Anderson as he paced the floor of his office. "A disturbance in a medical clinic…firefights in alleyways and in Chora's Den. Fist's death…"

"I've read the incident report." Anderson replied, "It was ruled justified and the case closed."

"You know as well as I do there's more to it than that." Udina grumbled. "Fist was connected—not just to local Ward politicians, but to people higher up in the food chain. I've heard rumors that he had one or more contacts as high up as the Citadel Tower."

"You're not saying that he had one or more Councilors in his pocket are you?" An astonished Anderson exclaimed.

"No." Udina demurred, shaking his head, "Not that high up. I'm talking about mid and lower level bureaucrats—the people who can lose or find paperwork. And maybe an aide or two."

"You'd think that they'd prefer him dead." Anderson responded.

"Perhaps…" Udina nodded his head thoughtfully. "Dead men tell no tales—but…" He added ominously, "Their records might."

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"I still can't believe you had to shoot Fist." Carrie growled as she and her entourage made their way through the Presidium to the human embassy.

"He had a weapon." Ashley responded defensively. "Wrex didn't have a choice."

"The C-Sec sergeant investigating also ruled it a legitimate shooting." Garrus confirmed as he recalled his conversation with the investigating sergeant:

"_Mertus…remember you and Velassa complaining about how Fist always seemed to beat the rap…"_

"_Yeah Garrus." The turian C-Sec sergeant responded, "But come on…this is so obvious…Executor Pallin will never buy it."_

"_He will if you endorse it." Garrus pressed, "He's been wanting to nail Fist for some time. He just wants to be sure everything's done nice and legal—we've taken care of that."_

"_There are a bunch of corrupt politicians who won't give Pallin a choice." The sergeant pointed out. "They're looking to cover their asses."_

"_Don't worry about them. They're not going to be a problem much longer." Garrus grinned, "I'm about to slip a little something to a friend of mine that'll give those crooked politicians more to worry about than covering up for Fist."_

"_All right…I'll back your story." Mertus grinned, "Can't say I'm gonna miss the slimy little bastard either. Just watch yourself and tell your friend to watch him or herself as well."_

"_Will do." Garrus responded, "And thanks, Mertus. I owe you one."_

"_I'll just put it on the tab." The turian sergeant replied._

"I thought he'd been bound." Carrie persisted.

"He worked through his binds." Ashley countered, "I've seen it happen before. The omnicuffs aren't foolproof. Someone with enough tech skill…"

"And Fist had that…" Kaidan added thoughtfully. "Those turrets he set up were pretty formidable obstacles. Not to mention the booby trap he put on his safe. Garrus was lucky to catch that. It's possible he hacked his cuffs."

"All right." Carrie sighed, "I'll let it slide. Can't say I'm sorry to see the pile of crap go—it's just that…"

"Yeah…I know." Kaidan nodded his head, "You like to do things by the book where this sort of stuff is concerned. I'm the same way. But, Commander…" The lieutenant pointed out, "There might be times where you do need to leave yourself an out. Don't allow yourself to get boxed in."

"Thanks, Lieutenant." Carrie smiled back as the group reached the embassy entrance, "I'll keep that in mind." Opening the door, Carrie and the others caught the tail end of Udina's tirade.

"We're still not any closer to exposing Saren and the Council is growing impatient."

"I think we might have the proof you need!" Carrie triumphantly announced with a dramatic flourish as she pushed Tali forward, "Ta Da!"

"What are you talking about, Shepard?" A startled Udina exclaimed, "And who the hell is this quarian."

"This quarian has a name." The young quarian defiantly stated. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"And she's got the proof we need to nail Saren." Carrie added. Turning to Tali, the blonde human encouraged, "Go ahead, Tali…show 'em."

"I managed to extract this from the memory core of a geth…" Tali explained only to be interrupted by Captain Anderson.

"Don't the geth fry their memory cores when they die as a defense mechanism?" The captain inquired.

"Yes." Tali confirmed, "But you have to remember, my people created the geth. If you're quick, careful, and lucky, you might be able to save small caches of data. I managed to save such a cache. There's no visual, but I do have audio." The quarian girl then activated her omnitool and played the recording.

"_Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

"That's Saren's voice!" Anderson exclaimed with more than a touch of anger. "It proves he was involved in the attack!"

"Ok…so what is this Conduit thingie?" Carrie asked.

"It must have something to do with the Beacon…" Anderson surmised. _Well…Duh…_Carrie thought to herself as she barely succeeded in resisting the temptation to roll her eyes, _Now tell me something I don't know._ "Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology like a weapon." The captain further surmised as Carrie continued to think to herself, _Conduit…noun…a channel for conveying water or other fluid. A tube or trough for protecting electric wiring. It's a frigging passageway of some sort. _Carrie concluded, again keeping her analysis to herself for the moment, _But from where to where?_

"There's more information." Tali interrupted, "Saren's voice wasn't the only one on the audio." She then continued playing the recording as a female voice spoke.

_And one step closer to the return of the Reapers._

"Who's that other voice?" Udina inquired, "And what the hell are the Reapers?"

"The memory core suggests that the Reapers were an extremely advanced machine race that existed fifty thousand years ago…" Tali explained.

"About the same time as the Protheans." Kaidan observed.

"Correct." Tali replied, "It appears that the Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then disappeared."

"I'm not sure I buy that." A dubious Udina responded.

"It matches what I saw in my vision." Carrie shuddered involuntarily. "I saw the Protheans being slaughtered by the Reapers."

"The geth see the Reapers as being gods—the apex of synthetic evolution." Tali pointed out.

"And they believe that Saren can bring the Reapers back." Carrie concluded as Tali nodded her head.

"We have to present this to the Council." Anderson declared. "The Reapers are a threat to every species in the galaxy and those audio files prove Saren's a traitor…"

"I still don't buy this stuff about the Reapers." Udina decided, "But the Captain is right. The evidence on that audio file does prove that Saren was involved with the attack on Eden Prime and is in league with the geth. I'll contact the Council and set up a meeting."

"What about the quarian?" Ashley inquired, raising a dubious eyebrow.

"My name is Tali." Tali forcefully stated. "You know what I'm capable of Commander. Let me join you."

"What about your pilgrimage?" Carrie asked, "Won't joining me set you back?"

"Not at all." Tali responded, "The purpose of the pilgrimage is to prove that we are willing to give for the greater good. What will it say about me if I turn my back on this?"

"Ok, Tali." Carrie grinned, "You've made your case. Welcome to the madhouse."

"Anderson and I'll get things set up with the Council." Udina declared, "Take some time to get yourselves together and then meet us at the Council Chambers in say…two hours."

As Udina and Captain Anderson left the ambassador's office, Carrie turned to her team, "All right…you heard the man. Everyone has two hours of personal time to relax and unwind. We meet at the Citadel Tower in an hour and a half—got it?"

Watching as Wrex and Garrus left, Carrie turned to her new quarian friend, "Wanna join us, Tali? I was thinking about taking in the view up on Tayseri Ward."

"If it wouldn't be a bother." The young quarian diffidently responded.

"No bother at all!" Carrie smiled, "Come on! Let's go!"

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"Over here!" Carrie pointed as she led her companions to a spot where several other people were gathered. "I just love the view here—it's so spectacular."

"It does take your breath away, doesn't it Commander?" Kaidan agreed, "Wasn't this where you and your friends had planned on dragging us all off to before those thugs decided to try to knock over Flux?"

"Yeah." Carrie smiled as she nodded her head. "Asryna, Laura, and I like to come by here whenever we're all on the Citadel. It's a great place to sightsee and be seen." The blonde model sighed as her eyes took in the vista before her.

"You miss that life?" Ashley asked, "The lights…cameras…and everything?"

"Who says I left it?" Carrie smiled, "I still get in a few shoots a year and walk a few runways when I can get the leave and my manager's got a couple of bit parts in a few movies lined up if I can get the leave to do 'em."

"But doesn't the brass get upset at that?" The gunnery chief asked.

"Hmmm…no. At least not Anderson or Hackett, although I think some of the others like Mihailovich aren't too pleased." Carrie responded. "I don't pose in anything or do anything that would be a disgrace to the uniform. So, no see-through lingerie, no taking off my clothes other than bikini shots…nothing that would present a bad image for the Alliance or the Service. And I make sure I do everything on my time and not the Alliance's. Plus, I do the odd recruiting vid or ad and pose for a few posters—that evens things out for them.."

"I guess that makes sense." Ashley replied as she noticed a mischievous glint in her commanding officer's eyes. "What are you planning, Skipper?" The gunnery chief asked in a mildly suspicious voice.

"You want me to become _her_?" Carrie grinned.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"Remember when you asked me why people aren't crowding around me and I told you it was a trade secret? Want me to show you? Want me to become _her_?"

"I know I'd like to see it." Kaidan chimed in, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"See what?" A confused Tali asked.

"I gotta admit." Ashley agreed, "I'm dying to know."

"All right." Carrie smirked as she touched up her makeup. As she put away her compact, her bearing, poise, and even walk changed as she strutted amongst the gathered beings enjoying the view.

"Hey! Is that?" An asari asked her turian lover.

"I think it is!" The turian responded. "I never thought I'd get to see her this close!"

"Hey!" A dark haired human woman called out, "It's Carrie!"

"Carrie!" Another human shouted, holding out an autograph book, "Will you sign this, please?"

"Carrie? You doing another Asura's Breath commercial?"

"Carrie? Is it true you're gonna be in the new Blasto movie?"

"Carrie? Can I take a picture with you?"

"Carrie? Will you sign my boobs?"

"Carrie? Will you go out with me?"

"You're the woman on those pictures and in the vids?" A surprised and disbelieving Tali exclaimed.

"Wow!" Ashley exclaimed as Carrie worked the crowd, signing autographs, posing for pictures, and obviously enjoying the spotlight. "I'm seeing it, but I'm not believing it. It's like someone just flipped a switch."

"I hear you, Chief." Kaidan shook his head in amazement as Carrie continued to sign autographs, making sure that every fan had a chance to have their autograph signed or their picture taken with the model until finally, Shepard smiled and waved her hand.

"Gotta go, guys! You've been great. Tell you what, if I missed anyone and you want pictures or autographs, just send your requests to my manager—you can get her addy from the extranet—and tell her you saw me here and I'll personalize 'em for you! See ya!"

Motioning for her companions to join her, Carrie quickly disappeared into the Citadel crowd, the switch that she had turned on now turned off.

"Damn." Ashley shook her head, "How do you do that?"

Smiling, Carrie replied, "It's all in how you carry yourself, Chief. When I'm Lieutenant Commander Shepard, I look, walk, talk, and act in a different way than when I'm Carrie Shepard normal girl or Carrie, part time model and actress."

"How do you keep 'em all straight?" Ashley asked as Carrie and her little group slowly made their way to the nearest mass transit station..

Shrugging her shoulders as she called a taxi, Carrie replied as the skycar landed next to them, "I don't know…I just do. Guess that makes me schizoid or something."

"And if you become a spectre?" Kaidan asked.

"Then Carrie the Spectre joins the zoo."

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"Garrus? You said you had something for me?" A dark haired human woman whispered as she approached Garrus in a seedy Aroch Ward bar.

"Thought you might be interested in this." The C-Sec officer replied as he handed an OSD to the reporter.

Activating her omnitool, Emily Wong scanned the contents of the OSD. "Damn, Garrus! If this checks out…"

"Oh, it does…" Garrus grinned as he handed three more OSDs to the reporter, "Here are some more files we found that corroborate it."

"This is going to make some people real angry." Emily smirked. "I've been trying to tie these people to Fist for some time and now…"

"Now, you've got 'em." Garrus smiled.

"Yeah." Emily replied as the smile on her face vanished, "You might want to think about taking some time off away from the Citadel for a while after this story breaks. It won't take certain people long to figure out who supplied me with these disks."

"I think I've got that covered." Garrus smirked in response. His grin vanishing, the turian then asked, "But what about you? I can't imagine certain people will be too pleased with you either."

"Yeah…I have a feeling I'll be taking a month's vacation to Earth or something like that." Emily agreed, "But the heat should die down pretty quickly—once the indictments come in, those people will have more important things to worry about than paybacks."

"Take care of yourself, Emily." Garrus said as he got out of his chair, "I have an appointment I have to make."

"You too Garrus." Emily replied as she also stood up. "And again…thanks."

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"Better not be lying to me, you little pyjak." Wrex warned, glowering down at the cringing salarian merchant.

"I'm telling you the truth." Morlan cried out, quivering under the giant krogan's glare. "My information is as good as the items I sell. I'd stake my life on it."

"You are." Wrex threatened as the salarian gulped.

"It's in the Argos Rho cluster." The salarian merchant declared, "I don't know the planet—it's in one of Tonn Actus's hidden bases."

"Tonn Actus." Wrex spat out the name. "That turian bastard. This better check out, Morlan. If it does, you'll get paid. If it doesn't…I'll be back."

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Taking a deep breath and exhaling as the last of her group showed up at the base of the stairway leading up to the audience chamber. Carrie remarked in as cheery a voice as she could muster, "They're ready to start. You boys and girls ready to strike a pose?"

_**A/N: **__I based Carrie's little bit with the crowd on a true story. Marilyn Monroe and her photographer were once in Central Park in NYC and Marilyn was walking about without anyone recognizing her. Her photographer then recalled her asking him, "Do you want me to become __**her**__?" When he said yes, it was literally like flipping a switch—she went instantly from Norma Jean Baker mode where no one knew who she was to Marilyn mode where __**everyone**__ recognized her._

_Again, I've changed the game events and dialogue slightly to go along better with Carrie's character. Also, it might seem that I'm picking on Anderson—he really is a capable and competent individual—it's just that he's got that giant blind spot where Saren is concerned. Saren has his number and Saren knows it and Anderson knows it and it eats at Anderson. And yes, Udina recognizes it too. Udina might not like Shepard, but he does realize that Shepard's the one most likely to bring Saren down—not Anderson._


End file.
